Inviting Response(ability): Developing a Learning-centered Homiletic
Authors:   , Norman Matthew Robert 
Published: October 2024

Chapter 1 introduces the theme of this study: namely, how following a learning-centered
pedagogy as the core pedagogical strategy for preaching reimagines
preaching theologically, epistemologically, and practically. The aim of this study is
to develop a learning-centered homiletic by which the participants are invited to
practice their response(ability) and engage in a shared process of practical
theology informed by experience, discernment, and knowing rooted in
relationship. Recent scholarship in homiletics calls for a transition to a learning-centered
pedagogy when teaching preaching in academic settings. I argue that a
shift to a learning-centered pedagogy is also needed when engaged in the practice
of preaching. I seek to determine how Jane Vella’s participatory learning theory and
process called Dialogue Education might contribute to the field of homiletics.

Chapter 2 seeks to answer the question, “What does it mean to understand
preaching as a Christian practice and what are the implications of such an
understanding?” In doing so, it examines homileticians who call for an
understanding of teaching preaching as a Christian practice that is centered upon
a learning-centered pedagogy. These scholars focus solely on the implications
concerning the learning and teaching of preaching in the classroom. I explore the idea of
preaching being a Christian practice and the implications for preaching as
understood from a practice-based worldview by engaging with the scholarship and
practice theory of Theodore Schatzki.

Chapter 3 of this study analyzes and evaluates the strategies realized in certain
preaching types—Propositional, New Homiletic, and Conversational preaching—
by focusing on the pedagogical frames detailed in the scholarship of the
homileticians engaged with in Chapter 2. These pedagogical frames are teachercentered
teaching, learner- or student-centered teaching, and learning-centered
teaching. The argument in Chapter 3 states that examining and exposing the pedagogical
characteristics at work in preaching can help one move toward a pedagogy that fits
a practice-based worldview and develop learning-centered preaching.

Chapter 4 of this study argues that engaging homiletics with the educational theory
of Vella offers insights for developing a learning-centered homiletic. The chapter
shows how Vella’s pedagogical understanding can enable the mutual involvement
of the congregation in the actions that form the practice of preaching. It examines
the pedagogical, epistemological, and implicit theological characteristics that
Vella’s theory and process can offer to preaching, elaborating on the implications
of these characteristics for developing a learning-centered homiletic.

Chapter 5 examines the theological characteristics that integrate to form a
theology for a learning-centered homiletic. Using the work of Ray Anderson and
Esther Meek, the chapter develops a theological framework for learning-centered
preaching. It demonstrates how an ontological and epistemological perspective
rooted in Christopraxis relates to and calls for developing a homiletic whose core
strategy is a learning-centered pedagogy.

Having formed a theology for a learning-centered homiletic in the previous
chapter, Chapter 6 endeavors to utilize Dialogue Education in order to develop
learning-centered preaching. While Vella's principles are not intended for
preaching, I have argued that a critical adaptation of her steps of design can not
only enable the design and planning of such preaching but also help the preacher
execute the plan and preach in a learning-centered way.

In Chapter 7, I conclude that Vella’s theory critically challenges the homiletical
theories that predominate by questioning the ontological and epistemological
perspectives and pedagogies they hold tacit. Vella’s insights also highlight
assumptions related to the roles of the preacher and the participants of the
sermon during the homily. Her perspective contributes to preaching being
understood as a shared process of practical theology because it helps the
preacher design their sermon to welcome the response(ability) of all participating in the sermon.