Haidt is a moral psychologist, which is to say that his discipline of research is not interested in answering the question of ethicists: “What is morally right and wrong?” but rather, “How do human beings (socially and psychologically) determine what is right and wrong?”
Metaphor is a powerful tool for whittling difficult ideas down to size. By comparing what we do not understand with what we do understand, an apt metaphor can help us reach out and touch what feels distant, make familiar what was once obscure, give life to what seems dead, and give color to what was faded.
A poem by W. Craig Gilliam
When I was asked to write about what preachers learn from actors, I had just finished a cameo appearance in a musical on my college campus. My brief moment on the stage reminded me of a few things that preachers can learn from actors. They include the use of body language, motivation, and practice, practice, practice.
How can we reach youth and teens? In my own young listener study, the most consistent response about how to connect in preaching was “Relate to me” with its correlated “And let me relate to you.”
Performance anxiety affects or has affected everyone, from novice spoken word artists to seasoned orators. The question is, how to feel what you’re going to feel but still perform what you intend to perform – how can one not be derailed by such paralyzing anxiety?
The Dallas area Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence peer group, led by Dr. Michael Waters, spent a day at Dallas Comedy Club to learn together about the art of Improv and how it might shape their preaching.
People are an amazing amalgamation of impulses: spiritual, social, and psychological. Good preaching recognizes this fact, and attempts to allow the Biblical texts to speak to each area of human experience.
Wes Allen offers expert guidance in the practical ethics of preaching following the election of Donald J. Trump, an ostensibly Christian person whose own behavior and speech violates so many of the moral norms we have come to expect not only of Christians but of anyone who seeks the mantle of the presidency.
Should the news influence my sermons? Should my sermon address the latest event?
Whenever I lead a preaching workshop, during the Q and A, the question almost always comes up: Which is better, lectionary preaching or series preaching? My answer is that both have advantages and potential pitfalls.
I started hacking my sermons with one particular piece of linguistic advice, and inviting my students to do so, too: Remove as many instances of “There is…”, “There are…”, “It is…”, etc. from the sermon and reconstruct them. Simple as that.
© SMU Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence
