Beecher Lectures: John McClure, “Renewing Preaching Through a Critical Homiletics of Genre”

The annual Beecher Lectures will take place on October 7th, 8th, and 9th. Presenting the lectures this year is the distinguished homiletics scholar John McClure of Vanderbilt Divinity School.
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Dr. McClure will speak on “Renewing Preaching Through a Critical Homiletics of Genre.” His three lectures are:
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Lecture One (Oct. 7, 11:30 am): “Critical Homiletics and Analysis of the Congregational Sermon as Genre”
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Lecture Two (Oct. 8, 9 am): “Genre and Style: Homiletical Options for the Renewal of Preaching”
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Lecture Three (Oct. 9, 9 am): “The Critical Homiletics of Genre: Case Studies for Reflection”
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All will take place in Marquand Chapel.
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Lecture One discusses the concept of critical homiletics, which involves the study of preaching as a unique genre of symbolic interaction. Lecture Two explores the internal “codes” that make preaching a unique genre and emphasizes the importance of intentional and self-conscious use of these codes. The final lecture presents a case study of a preacher who used critical analysis to renew her preaching in a new context, and a case study about ways that critical homiletics can inform our homiletical understanding of, and response to, the preaching of Christian nationalism.
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John McClure is the Charles G. Finney Professor Emeritus of Preaching and Worship at Vanderbilt Divinity School. His primary scholarly interests lie in theologies and ethics of communication. An ordained Presbyterian (PCUSA) minister, he taught at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary for 18 years before going to Vanderbilt and returned to Louisville in retirement. He has published ten books including, most recently, Speaking Together and With God: Liturgy and Communicative Ethics (2018), Ethical Approaches to Preaching: Choosing the Best Way to Preach about Difficult Issues (2021), and Learning Together to Preach: How to Become an Effective Preaching Coach (2023).
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One of the most distinguished lecture series on preaching in the world, the Divinity School’s Lyman Beecher Lectureship was founded in 1871 by a gift from Henry W. Sage of Brooklyn, N.Y., as a memorial to “the great divine whose name it bears,” to sponsor an annual series of lectures on a topic appropriate to the work of the ministry.