Making See

What is theologically and homiletically happening in `prophetic' sermons? This empirical theological study offers an analysis of the prophetic dimension in contemporary practices of preaching, including sermons from Bonhoeffer, King and Tutu, and from Dutch local contexts. After a phenomenological opening, five theological concepts are extracted from the studied sermons: exposing destructiva, interrupting dominant discourses, recognising the Word, overcoming destructiva and edifying the congregation. In this study, prophetic speech is reconstructed as an illuminative interplay between epiphanic and inductive aspects.

Kees van Ekris was a minister and lecturer Old Testament Theology in Indonesia (Java). He currently works as study director of an institute for contextual and missionary preaching (Areopagus/IZB) and as a minister in a Protestant congregation in the Netherlands.