Tag: Rhetoric

Preaching, Poetry, and the Power of Analogy

On By Dave MallinakIn Pastors, Preaching and Teaching, Wordsmithing1 Comment

If you haven’t read the previous post, you might find it a helpful introduction to this one.

Words work because they materialize in the visible world. Assuming we know the word, we can’t detach it from its meaning. The word represents something, either visible or invisible, and we know the meaning by the word that identifies it. God made the world this way. He made the world out of words so that the world is a visible word. And this is why metaphor works. A metaphor identifies something distinct from and yet fully identified with something else. Words themselves are metaphors because the word isn’t the material thing, but when we think of the material thing, we want to know its name.

Preachers need to know this because we deal in words. We use words to communicate God’s truth, conveying our message with words. The gospel is good news, which means the gospel is words. We ought to know the power of words to effectively communicate God’s truth.

In the previous post, we offered three treasures found in words. Here, we’ll offer two more.

Treasure #4: Poetry communicates more clearly than science.

From something less true, we can learn more truth. [1]

God is immutable.

I’ll pause while you look that up. Actually, no, I won’t. We’re all preachers reading this, so we know what immutable means. Hopefully, we have taught our churches to understand and honor the immutability of God. If we have, we know that the Bible doesn’t spend much time on the topic. Hebrews 6:18 provides the singular appearance of this amazing word. If we want our people to know what it means that God is immutable, we might find it helpful to use a more familiar yet equally Biblical expression, perhaps like this:

But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. (Psalm 94:22)

The Bible tells us that God is a rock at least twenty times. Think about that. If you demand scientific accuracy for every expression, the Bible must disappoint you terribly. If I were to ask you to explain the similarities between God and a rock, you might struggle a bit. As you take your kids hiking, how often have you pointed at a rock and said, “See that, kids! God is just like that!”

But you could. You should, in fact. God identifies Himself that way. If I’m honest, I can only think of one or two qualities of a rock that resemble God – a rock is unchangeable; a great big rock is nearly immovable. But the Bible says, “God is a rock.” Not that He is every way like a rock or a rock is every way like God. But a rock depicts God’s immutability in a way we can grasp, in a way that the word “immutable” doesn’t.

If you want your kids to know that God is immutable, tell them that God is a rock. A child can grasp that.

But that isn’t true for kids only. Think of the way science expresses truth compared to poetry. Science always wants to quantify things, usually with a number. On a scale of 1-to-10, how much pain are you feeling? A 55-year-old gets a senior discount. And on a cold day, temperatures might dip into the teens or even below zero.

Now, of course, this scientific mode of expression has become familiar enough to us that we know the lingo. We may have never considered how inane the idea of “zero” degrees of temperature might be. We might wish we could store a few degrees when it is 100 outside and pull them out of the pantry when it is zero. But what about below zero? What does that even mean? If my bank balance gets below zero, I’m in trouble. Does that mean we’re in trouble when temperatures get below zero? Do they owe us something they need to repay?

The scientific or “analytical” paradigm takes itself very seriously and sometimes acts as if accuracy is more important than clarity. But the Bible doesn’t rely on the analytical paradigm as often as we might think. The Bible is much more likely to describe God as a fire, Jesus as bread or light or water, the Bible as a sword, and a contentious woman as a continual dripping on a very rainy day. The Bible doesn’t get all that technical. In fact, the scientific way of saying things is more precise and accurate, but also more abstract. If you don’t believe me, draw me a picture of a degree. Not just one – draw me fifty of them huddled together in the air surrounding your house on a warm spring afternoon. Show me what a degree looks like, and we’ll discuss how great scientific expression really is. And tell me which expression makes it more apparent that Tom Bombadil is quite old – if I tell you his age in years or if I quote Tolkien:

There’s earth under his old feet, and clay on his fingers; wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open.

The poetic way of saying things (imprecise but more concrete) is often the Bible way of saying things.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. (Proverbs 25:11)

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. (James 3:6)

The Bible speaks this way for a simple reason: we understand it better. The concrete images used in poetic speech aren’t always the most accurate, but they express the idea in a way our minds can grasp.

How should this affect our preaching? We should recognize first that theology, like any science, uses a fair amount of jargon that the noninitiates might not recognize. You can speak of “getting saved,” the “atonement,” “justification,” “sanctification,” and the “vicarious” suffering of Christ all day long. Half your audience will have no idea what you mean.

Continue reading “Preaching, Poetry, and the Power of Analogy” →

Hey Preacher, Love the Word(s)

On By Dave MallinakIn Pastors, Preaching and Teaching, Wordsmithing1 Comment

Carpenters work with nails and screws and lumber. Plumbers work with pipe. Electricians work with wire. Preachers work with words. They aren’t the only ones to do this, of course. Carpenters work with words, too. So do electricians, lawyers, doctors, bureaucrats, and auto mechanics. Words are the currency of culture.

But preachers particularly work with words. Words are the raw material for sermons. With words, the gospel is preached, and men repent and believe.

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (I Peter 1:23-25)

Auto mechanics study engines and tools. Doctors study the human body and medicines. Preachers must know the Word. But knowing the Word requires a knowledge of words. If you love the Word, it is only natural that you would love words. Words are your craft. Despite the inevitable sneers, you are called to be a wordsmith.

Continue reading “Hey Preacher, Love the Word(s)” →

The Reading Report, September, 2017

On By Dave MallinakIn Book Lists

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. – Sir Francis Bacon “Of Studies”

I try to avoid the charge that “he writes more than he reads,” so I work on reading a little every day. Since life is busy, I read in the bathroom. And some days that is the only reading I have time for. But then that is an argument for reading in the bathroom, since we do that every day regardless of the schedule. But I digress.

From time-to-time, I will update my reading list. This gives me some good review and a good way to track my own reading. And who knows, one of my two readers might find a recommendation in what I say.

I read the way I eat: I call it “grazing.” I have about 5 books I am working through right now, here a little there a little. I will begin with a couple of books I recently finished, and then go on to the books I am reading now.

Recently Completed Books

John Adams by David McCullough

Every once in a while, you read a book that wows you from beginning to end, and this is one of those. It goes to my “all-time favorites” list, along with John Stott’s The Cross of Christ and Laura Hildenbrand’s Unbroken. I knew Adams was a great man, and I have heard plenty of people speak highly of this book, but I did not realize what a quality life he led. He was unusual even for his time. The book is well-written and a delight to read.

Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg

My wife and I took a long drive across country recently, and I wanted to listen to an audiobook. So on this one I cheated. I found the book in the library and I was interested, and since I was reading Adams already, I thought this would fit. Burr was not as bad as history paints him, but he was not a good man. I probably knew this before, but his father, also named Aaron Burr, married one of Jonathan Edwards’ daughters. In a matter of less than 1 year when Burr was a young boy, his father died, his mother died, his grandmother (Edwards’ wife) died, and his grandfather (Jonathan Edwards) died. The Edwards were moving to Princeton to raise young Aaron. We cannot deny that these early tragedies shaped his life and outlook.

My Current Reading List

A Theological Interpretation of American History by C. Gregg Singer

Yes, I enjoy history, and this one has been in my stack of books to be read for a while. It is not, in my opinion, well-written. The author has a passion for his subject and seems to have read much on the subject, but he provides little documentation, rarely sites a source or even gives a quotation. So he is giving his opinion of the way America’s changing theology impacted America’s development as a nation. Nonetheless, the thesis is interesting. I wish someone would take what he has done and document things for us.

Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame

I am teaching Apologetics in our Christian school right now, so this is part of the curriculum. I have read parts of this book in the past, but this year I made it our class text, so I am reading the entire book. Yesterday, I found this nugget:

To defend the Bible is ultimately simply to present it as it is — to present its truth, beauty, and goodness, its application to present-day hearers, and, of course, its rationale. (p. 18)

Seasons of a Leader’s Life by Jeff Iorg

A pastor-friend gave me this book a couple of years ago. I have been reading it for a while now. Some helpful advice for sure.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White

A short little powerhouse of writing advice. I highly recommend it. Of course, it is the magnum opus on style, and everyone who aspires to write should read it. Consider this little nugget from my reading this week:

The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place. (p. 71)

On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons by John Broadus

I wish I would have read this book about 15 years ago. Every preacher should read it and then read it again. Consider this little gem on “subject-preaching” (aka “topical” preaching)

Subject preaching is the orator’s method par excellence. It lends itself to finished discourse. But it has its dangers. The preacher easily becomes interested in finding subjects that are interesting and readily yield a good oration rather than such as have a sure Christian and scriptural basis or such as come close home to the needs of his people. He is tempted to think more of his ideas and his sermons than of “rightly dividing the word of truth” and leading men into the Kingdom of God. He is in danger also of preaching in too narrow a field of truth and human need, since of necessity he will be drawn to those subjects that interest him personally or with which he is already familiar. Unless, therefore, he is constantly widening his horizon by diligent study, he will soon exhaust his resources. Accordingly, at the very beginning, the student should be warned against too exclusive use of this type of sermon. (pp. 136-7)

Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student by James Nance

You guessed it: another textbook. This is a new one this year for my Rhetoric class, and I have appreciated the opportunity to grow in my understanding of Rhetoric this year. We just finished reading “Phaedrus,” and I will leave you with this quote from Socrates:

And this skill he will not attain without a great deal of trouble, which a good man ought to undergo, not for the sake of speaking and acting before men, but in order that he may be able to say what is acceptable to God and always to act acceptably to Him as far as in him lies; for there is a saying of wiser men than ourselves, that a man of sense should not try to please his fellow servants (at least this should not be his first object) but his good and noble masters… (from p. 39)

Blessings!