Abstract
In this informative and stimulating work, Angela Dienhart Hancock presents an explication of Karl Barth’s ‘Exercises in Sermon Preparation’, a series of seminars delivered at the University of Bonn in the tumultuous years of 1932-33. The book is arranged in two parts: the first sketches the theological and historical background of Barth’s approach to preaching while the second interprets the sermon exercises themselves.
Hancock first places Barth’s exercises firmly in context beginning, in Chapter One, with a biographical discussion of Barth’s journey from the liberalism of his own ministerial training through to the theology of his Romans commentaries. She draws attention to key features of Barth’s theological existence, notably his dialectal approach and his understanding of the analogia fidei in opposition to any natural connection between God and humanity. In chapters Two to Four, Hancock enlarges her field of enquiry, relating Barth’s personal convictions to the politics and rhetoric of the Weimar Republic and then to the German Protestant preaching tradition. Hancock’s work is detailed, readable, and provides an extremely helpful analysis of the theological, ecclesiastical and political world inhabited by Barth and his students.
The final two chapters deal with the sermon exercises themselves, examining them, seminar by seminar, against the backdrop of Hitler’s rise to power and the increasing alignment of the German churches with the National Socialists. There is much here for today’s preacher to consider, in particular the nine criteria of preaching which Barth presents to his students. Those with a greater interest in Barth’s theology will also profit from Hancock’s writing, as she reveals how some of Barth’s main theological concerns are hammered out in the midst of the politics of 1932-33.
This book will interest and inform historians, Barth scholars and preachers alike. However, it will perhaps be most valuable to those readers who are prepared to engage with issues raised by Hancock that remain relatively unexplored in her work. One of these is the question of the worth of Barth’s sermon exercises. What are their theological strengths and weaknesses? Should they be followed in preaching classes today? Perhaps more importantly, the reader is left to ponder what genuine prophetic preaching sounds like in today’s world. Hancock argues for the continuing relevance of Barth’s work on homiletics but leaves this task to others. For anyone who dares to preach, it is a demanding and unavoidable challenge.