Book review: The Homiletical Plot

Lowry, Eugene. The Homiletical Plot (Westminster John Knox, 2001).

 

            The Homiletical Plot is Lowry’s development of a sermon style which presents and alternative to the traditional methods of preaching. The narrative/storytelling sermon. Following the disruption with “the old homiletic” inaugurated by Craddock (whom he quotes a few times in his book), he introduces the concept of storytelling as a powerful tool for engagement of the listener.  Lowry works with the idea of “developing a sermon instead of just “constructing” one (p.12). The sermon “should not be a collection of parts constructed by a preacher” (p.13) but a plot that is developed in time, since preaching happens in time.

            Lowry emphasizes that our task in preaching is to facilitate the homiletical birth (p.14). In a way, we are less engineers working on the edification of a building, and more artists, capturing in words what lies beyond the vision of the listeners, making that happen in their life and time. We have received propositions from the Greeks, but our Semitic fathers were more of a story telling kind. Lowry demonstrates how narratives, particularly the narrative arc, can serve as a potent tool for crafting engaging and impactful sermons.

The narrative/storytelling sermon is described by Lowry in 5 steps: 1) upsetting the equilibrium, 2) analyzing the discrepancy, 3) disclosing the clue to resolution, 4) experiencing the Gospel and 5) anticipating the consequences. It is not a “vertical” structure of theme and topics, but an “horizontal” structure that aligns with the temporal aspect of a preached sermon. It works with a plot in which the listeners already know the “why”, they know the “end of the story” already. Therefore, the preacher will develop the sermon working with “hows”, leading them in the sermon through a plot that applies the “why” to the personal experience of the listeners.

Out of the 4 main contents of a sermon (as reviewed in class) Lowry’s focus in the book is the “for the benefit of the hearers” aspect of preaching. With a strong emphasis on engagement and relevance, he provides tools for the preacher to work on keeping his listeners engaged in the preaching. The author encourages preachers to connect with their congregations on a personal level, addressing their concerns, doubts, and aspirations. One of the best ways for doing so would be by inserting real-life examples and experiences into the sermons, which fosters a deeper sense of connection and resonance with their listeners.

            Adding to that, Lowry's approach reinforces the dynamic nature of preaching. Preachers don’t need to shy away from spontaneity and creativity. Rather than delivering static monologues, Lowry believes that this type of developments and delivery of the sermon accentuates the dialogue between the preacher, the congregation, and the text. The listener becomes an active part of preaching, even when passively listening to it.

            One of the engaging aspects of The Homiletical Plot is that it is an easy reading, as Lowry is not much preoccupied with using theological buzzwords. The reading flows in a natural temporal way, just like his idea of a storytelling sermon suggests.  

The book brings forth the naturality with which we all deal with storytelling in our daily life and brings it to the pulpit. It is an encouragement to abandon the fear of being bold, and sometimes edgy, in the pulpit, engaging in a form of preaching and its developments that will benefit the hearer in the event of preaching. Influenced by Lowry I have been using the “Storytelling” in many of my sermons, which I usually weave together with a journalistic style of writing, including style of text and “circular” endings (Resuming the opening idea in the conclusion). Also, the idea that the sermon is a “spoken” text, not a “Written” text, therefore, the search is for a text that reflects the spoken language as much as possible, trying to avoid top make the event of preaching a mere “text-reading”.

            One of the risks of the storytelling style is when it comes and end in itself, or a goal to be pursued every Sunday which binds the preacher to a format that may overshadow the content. Lowry himself points to some of the risks, but I would emphasize that it needs a careful approach so that it keeps its refreshing aspect, rather than a mandatory format. Another of the risks that I identify is that the preacher feels so “forced” to be a storyteller every Sundays that he would both force every text to match the style, making the content adapt to the form, and not the contrary. Also, he may lose the freshness that the narrative style proposes by making every sermon a storytelling event.