Page 179 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

preachers, similarly, as the New Hermeneutic collapsed under the weight of its modernist

presuppositions about referential properties of language, so also the new homiletic in buckling

under the assault of postmodern critics who question its assumptions about the “universality” of

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human experience.” Korean preachers are no exception. In order to overcome the crisis of the

Korean church, they are desperately searching for a model in preaching ministry. They need to

focus on Jesus in their postmodern pluralistic social context.

The second reason for accepting the assumption above is historical. Throughout church

history, revivals of preaching have broken out with a refreshed realization of the centrality

preaching in Jesus’ ministry. Historical homiletician Old comments on this phenomenon: “Again

and again revivals of preaching have begun with the recognition of this fundamental fact: Jesus

was a preacher and he gave a major portion of his energy to preaching. In the High Middle Ages

the preaching orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, brought about a major spiritual

revival by emphasizing the preaching ministry of Jesus. One the American frontier the Methodist

circuit riders took the preaching of Jesus as their pattern. Again and again the Church has

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returned to the preaching ministry of Jesus for its example.” The study of selected aspects of the

methodology of Jesus’ preaching that was advanced under these reasons yielded some

suggestions for the Korean preacher in term of their methodology, including a philosophy of

preaching and communicative techniques.

Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1973), 11.

4 David J. Lose. “Confessing Jesus Christ: Preaching In a Postmodern World,” Ph.D. diss.,
Princeton Theological Seminary, 2000, 2.

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Old “The Reading and Preaching,” 111.