Book review - "Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized"

 Willimon, William. Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized (Eerdmans, 1992).

 

In “Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized", William Willimon offers insights about preaching within the context of the Christian faith. He is addressing especially preaching about “a general human condition”, which he deems empty, non-challenging and which the baptized did not gather on Sunday morning to hear about. He is also concerned with the fact that we might be speaking as if we were only speaking to people in the world (pg.3), and not to the redeemed people of God. His main goal is to underline the role of preaching in the life of the Church, emphasizing its potential to challenge, deconstruct and re-edify the life and the world of the faithful.

Willimon emphasizes the distinctiveness of Christian language and thought, encouraging preachers to embrace the peculiarities of the faith rather than diluting them to appeal to a broader audience. This aspect would lead the preacher to avoid catering only to the preferences or expectations of the congregation. Preaching is committed to the proclamation of the Gospel, even when it goes against the grain of common sense, societal wisdom, or personal predilections.

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Some useful insight from the book:
“to preach among the baptized is to operate withing a domain of distinctive discourse” (pg.6)

We look for associations of our daily life with the Gospel, but also with discrepancies (pg.17)

As every speech, baptismal speech makes sense when associated to a community of sense. It uses the Biblical language to create and critique a new people. (pg.11 and 12)

One of the points to highlight in Willimon's work is his insistence on the transformative power of preaching when it has solid ground in the Gospel. The author places emphasis on the prophetic role of the preacher and the importance of authenticity in communication, which resonates with me. For us Lutherans, his recognition of the baptismal identity as foundational to Christian preaching is also a bonus, providing space for the preaching of the Sacraments in the context of Congregational Worship.

Some of the Willimon's strengths are in the fact that he has theological depth and sharp rhetoric. Adding to that, his commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel prompts him to challenge conventional wisdom and confront apathy within the Church, as well as to insist on the foundational role of our baptismal identity with regards to Christian discipleship.

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Addressing the preaching to the baptized, Willimon's work leads to a reflection about their own preaching practices, as well as their theological commitments. His work is food for thought in reevaluating the role of the preaching inside the Christian congregations, and the ways in which it feeds the faith and fosters discipleship among the baptized.

Willimon challenges preachers to move beyond mere moral exhortation or superficial entertainment and instead engage in the proclamation of the Gospel in its fullness, addressing both the joys and demands of discipleship.

I like his insistence on a bold, transformative message that doesn’t simply align with culture, preference, or mood of the moment. The Christian message is a peculiar one, creative and transformative, that needs to be proclaimed the way it is.

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Willimon's approach to preaching may lack sufficient attention to the diversified context on which many congregations are inserted. Connected to that, I struggle a little with the idea of focusing on “preaching to the baptized”, since my preaching preparations and style is geared towards a broader audience. I always consider visitors, newcomers and guests when preparing a sermon, aiming at reaching them as much as possible withing the context. I find it crucial to consider the missional and evangelistic dimension of preaching.

What I feel from Willimon’s sharp, even acid rhetoric is what is common for many theological works, especially in the field of homiletics. It is easier to be bold in preaching and exposing the Scriptures, shaping people in the image of the Scriptures, when you have an “ideal congregation” to write to. Or when you are “preaching to the ordained”. It is not easy, and sometimes not even feasible, to lead a whole ministry of preaching on that basis. While I understand that written works usually strain us towards an ideal, a take on the reality of ministry shows complexities and realities that are hard to be addressed by a bold pen alone. “no human gathering will be adequate to hear such words, that a new gathering will be necessitated by such language” (p.22) is a good example of such. We tend to idealize the History of the Church, but I would say that was seldom the case, perhaps, except for some periods in the first 3 centuries. The Church has consistently mastered adaptation, contextualization and inculturation. And whereas its discourse had its sharp, discomforting tone, it also brought along the tendency to adapt and to adjust to the people in front of the preacher.

 

As a last comment, I completely disagree with Willimon when he suggests that it may be better to be Church in a communist country than in free north America. Both because living under dictatorship cannot be better than in a free country, and for the fact that the power of the Holy Spirit is the same everywhere. I understand the stretch of the imagination for the argument’s sake, especially if you really have fuller churches there than here, but as a fact of reality, freedom is always preferred over tyranny, and this is one of the core values the Christian teachings stand for.