The work of the Homiletics seminar is located at the intersection of preaching and worship. The mission or purpose of the seminar is to investigate and interpret for the church and the academy the conjunction or overlap of the proclaimed word and the content of the liturgy in which proclamation occurs. This is based on an understanding of or belief in the liturgical nature of the proclaimed word in worship.
Convener
Seminar Report 2026
Convener
Timothy Leitzke
Description of Work
We previewed a member’s dissertation that we had helped
shepherd through development, approached the challenges of
preaching and AI (soon to be a seminar of its own), and offered
support and guidance for a pair of projects underway in preaching.
Other Work and Plans for the Future
We look forward to welcoming new members in 2027, and to
continuing the work of diversifying our approaches to preaching.
Seminar Report 2020
Convener
Timothy Leitzke, PhD, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Valparaiso, IN
Members in Attendance
Gennifer Brooks, Namjoong Kim, Timothy Leitzke, Andrew Wymer, Sunggu Yang
Visitors in Attendance
Jennifer Ackerman, Jaewoong Jung, Derek Webber
Papers and Presentations
- Timothy Leitzke presented “Preaching is History,” assessing Rudolf Bultmann’s preaching against Nazi race laws during the Third Reich, tying that to preaching against racism in the United Stated
- Jennifer Ackerman presented “The Voice of Silence,” a draft of a dissertation chapter on Howard Thurman’s notion of the sacramentality of silence, and how he used silence in preaching.
- Namjoong Kim presented “Doing Justice, Healing Conflict, Transforming Culture,” an assessment of community involvement in the liturgy over different periods, and teasing out of possibilities for reshaping worship in the present for justice, healing, and transforming culture.
- Sunggu Yang presented “The Pilgrim’s Voice,” and discussed Korean Americans’ experience as pilgrims, and the opportunities it presents for faithful witness in the United States.
- Gennifer Brooks presented “Beyond a Culture of Disdain,” and sought ways to get beyond sexism in the black church and especially sexism that affects black female clergy (whether they serve predominantly black churches or not).
- We also had a joint session with the Liturgy and Culture seminar, in which Eunjoo Kim presented “Sacramental Preaching in the Culture of Ableism,” a critique and exhortation regarding how accessible worship really is.
Other Work and Plans for the Future
After two years of rewarding collaborative work on an issue of Liturgy we look forward to where member interests are taking them. We are always looking for papers on how preaching can be understood liturgically.