The relationship between preaching and other ministerial functions as viewed in the Warrack Lectures on preaching, 1921-1971 : plus a comparison of these views with selected writings by British authors of homiletical and pastoral literature in the fifty years prior to the Warrack Lectureship

Abstract

The aim of the thesis is to examine the printed Warrack Lectures on Preaching from 1921 through 1971 to ascertain the relationship between preaching and other ministerial functions. That is, do the men who delivered their lectures on the Warrack Foundation see a relationship between preaching and other duties of a parish minister, and if so, what is that relationship. A second, but more minor aim of the thesis, is to provide accurate information about the history of the Warrack Lectures on preaching and their founder, Frank Warrack. This material is presented in the Preface, Introduction and ton of the twelve appendixes. The thesis examines five areas of the minister's life: his professional role, pastoral capacity, priestly office, pedagogical function and personal responsibilities. Each of these five areas was examined according to the material presented in the Warrack Lectures, then selected British homiletical and pastoral literature was surveyed to see what the British authors from the fifty-year period prior to the inauguration of the Warrack Lectureship said regarding these five areas of the minister's life and preaching. Thus the thesis shows whether or not there have been changes in the attitude towards preaching and specific functions of the parish minister between past British homiletical and pastoral literature and the Warrack literature. Further, the thesis presents the view of mainly British ministers and professors for a one-hundred-year period regarding the relationship between preaching and the other areas of a minister's life. The conclusion reached in this thesis is that in the view of the Warrack lecturers, preaching is related to all that the preacher does in his office as minister of a local parish. That is, the minister's other duties as teacher, counselor, leader of worship and pastor are not viewed as interfering with his pulpit work but rather as enriching his pulpit ministry. On the whole, the Warrack literature does not add appreciably to the homiletical insights already presented in British homiletical literature written in the fifty-year period prior to the founding of the Warrack Lectureship. However, the Warrack material does reveal the influence of C.H. Dodd, Martin Briber, biblical criticism, radio and television on preaching. Further, the 1871-1920 British literature plus the Warrack material taken together shows a shift in attitude toward emotion and teaching in preaching.