What Comes Next: Continuing the Digital Ecclesiology Conversation in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This essay seeks to add to the emerging conversation regarding digital ecclesiology. In short, digital ecclesiology is an ongoing conversation not only about how congregations use technology but craft digital spaces for worship and ministry. This essay will seek to add in four ways. First, this essay will explore the concern of techno-ontology. As articulated by Ashley John Moyse, techno-ontology occurs when humans lose their identity to technology by being conformed to the limits of technology. Concerns such as “Zoom fatigue” and content proliferation will be given attention here. Next, this essay will explore a homiletic response which was adopted largely wholesale, whether done so critically or uncritically, during the COVID-19 pandemic—conversational preaching. Then, this concern will come into focus through a brief textual analysis of Hebrews 10:19–25. Finally, a way forward—the “what comes next”—will be considered and proposed. This way forward will be articulated in two forms. First, there will be the overall ecclesiastical, or congregational, focus. Second, there will be the specific homiletic and liturgical focus. The essay will conclude with an invitation for continued conversation

Wise Preaching: Furthering the Wisdom Homiletics Conversation in Both Model and Method

This essay will contribute to the emerging conversation related to “wisdom homiletics”, both in method and in content. “Wisdom homiletics”, as a homiletic–theological model that embodies the role of the Hebrew sage, resembles the wise teacher who seeks a more practical approach to biblical discipleship. This essay will begin with a discussion of the emerging conversation related to “wisdom homiletics” in order to establish the tone for the remainder of the essay. Next, a rhetorical and ethical introduction to the Hebrew wisdom literature will be offered. This will establish the role of “sage” as a significant member of the Israelite and Jewish political and religious system, following the scholarship of Joseph Blenkinsopp, Roland Murphy, and Mark Sneed. Then, the essay will offer an assessment of Robert Stephen Reid’s, Lisa Washington Lamb’s, and Alyce McKenzie’s different homiletical concepts of the “sage” to transition to laying a foundation for “wisdom homiletics” as both a model of and method for preaching. The essay will conclude with a sermon précis drawn from a core Wisdom literature passage (Eccl 12:1–8) and presented in the method articulated in this essay

The Digital Media Sermon: Definitions, Evaluations, Considerations

The question driving this particular paper is how to understand the place of the sermon on the digital frontier. In hopes of accomplishing this rather abstract task, this essay will begin with an analysis of the concept of digital rhetoric as articulated by Richard Lanham, Douglas Eyman, and Angela Haas. Next, this paper will review the dissertation literature published since 2013 that address preaching and technology. Then, this essay will address the “best practices” research on preaching and technology from Tripp Hudgins, MichaelChan, Sunggu Yang, Casey Sigmon, and Joshua Schatzle published since 2019 to see what influence the dissertation research is having on functional conversations. Finally, a proposal for capturing the concept of “digital homiletics” will be articulated based on John McClure’s idea of theological invention