Eloquence and Wisdom in an Age of Authenticity: The Three Dimensions of Preaching

Abstract

In our current age, authenticity is a highly regarded virtue which has very real implications for preachers in how they present themselves to their hearers and how they craft their homilies. The work of Charles Taylor will help us explore these implications. Building on an understanding of preaching as testimony and combining Taylor's insight with Augustine's timeless advice on preaching, we can then construct a three-dimensional framework for contemporary preaching in a Western context. We then reflect on the practical implications of a dimension of authenticity understood as appropriate self-disclosure. An exploration and critique of authenticity will lay the groundwork for an enhanced understanding of the contemporary preaching enterprise.