Abstract
Pasquarello’s starting point for his homiletical aesthetic is Scripture. He uses passages from Isaiah, Mark, and Romans to demonstrate the need for preachers to see their craft as an act of devotion and praise. He focuses upon the story of the widow who gives her last coins to the treasury (Mark 12:41–44) as an example of God’s self-giving love through Jesus Christ. This allegorical interpretation frames his two-fold argument that the widow exemplifies both the self-giving love of God as well as the need for preachers to fully surrender to that love in their proclamation. The goal is not to improve their preaching but to surrender their lives and their words to the gift of God’s self in Jesus Christ. This argument is expanded further by mining the story of the unnamed woman who anoints the feet of Jesus with an alabaster jar full of expensive ointment (Mark 14:1–9). This scriptural account also summons preachers to discern the beauty of God in Jesus Christ and to surrender to it fully in devotion, adoration, and joyful proclamation. As Pasquarello states, “The beauty of the unnamed woman’s act illumines the ‘eyes’ of our hearts to behold and to proclaim with joy the abundant goodness of God’s reign present in Jesus” (p. 67).
Just as one might hold up a gemstone and turn it around in order to see its splendor from every angle, Pasquarello holds up the concept of beauty found in God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ and examines it from various theological perspectives. He explores different aspects of theological beauty in the works of Augustine, John Wesley, and Martin Luther, with Augustine serving as the primary source of reflection. Using these theological lenses, Pasquarello expounds upon the gift of God’s redemptive love in Jesus Christ as the source and subject of preaching. The beauty of this gift is found in its ability to convert, to save, and to call us to a simple life of service. His treatment of Luther’s perspective on the preacher’s vocation will be especially helpful for those who seek to anchor their lives in God’s transformational beauty.
Throughout his work, Pasquarello deflects attention to trends and practicalities, reorienting preachers to the true task and end goal of preaching, which is to delight in God. This move can make the book a bit frustrating for preachers in search of a practical approach or a set of guidelines to follow in order to facilitate the preaching task. Instead, Pasquarello invites preachers to bask in the goodness of God’s good gift of salvation and in so doing to orient their reading and preaching of Scripture towards the beauty of that gift. Preaching, he argues, should not be efficacious but useless. Preachers need not be concerned about the usefulness, effectiveness, or success of a sermon; instead, they should marvel over God’s love for the world and preach from that disposition of awe-inspired love. In Pasquarello’s view, preaching is not beautiful because preachers have superior oratorical or homiletical skills; nor is it beautiful because preachers use poetic language or inspiring rhetoric. Preaching is beautiful because the preacher is loved by God in Jesus Christ. Once they perceive this beauty, preachers can then truly proclaim the glory of God. This is a central theme throughout the book: the beauty of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ is the source, the substance, and the goal of Christian preaching.
Pasquarello argues that this is, in fact, the most practical approach to preaching because it rightly fixes our eyes upon the gospel, which calls us to love God and our neighbor. This approach seeks to rise above social and political concerns and focus fully upon the gospel as the goal of preaching. Pasquarello believes that the gospel should address our current world and present calamities, but fixing the world and solving the world’s problems should not be the catalyst or source of preaching. This may seem like an odd shift for preachers who approach their task by asking what is going on this week in the news or the world that requires their attention. Pasquarello does not ignore the troubles and needs of the world entirely or elevate preaching above them. In his discussion of the poor widow, for example, he argues that the glory of God should be found and discerned among the most vulnerable, oppressed, and lowly. In his chapter on seeing beauty, he argues that when preaching focuses upon the gospel, the poor are surely welcomed, and God’s reign is lived out. In his discussion of Wesley’s perspective on preaching, he shows that the poor have a central place in the receptivity and proclamation of the gospel.
Still, though Pasquarello desires to connect the beauty of the gospel to the ugliness of the world, the volume can leave preachers wondering what should be said, for example, about the political polarization that currently afflicts us or about issues of social injustice in light of this beautiful and strange gospel. His central emphasis on rising above modern problems of division, discontent, and desires for self-improvement is a welcome one, yet readers may wish for specific guidance on ways to apply this theological aesthetic and to bring the gospel to bear on contemporary needs and problems. Since Pasquarello rightly does not want to offer steps for improvement or methods to enhance the quality of preaching, this book would serve well as a foundation text that informs practical preaching methodologies. It focuses preachers’ attention upon the awe-inspiring gospel and inspires them to make preaching a joy-filled delight that offers the world the beauty of the gospel. This book lays groundwork for reflection upon preaching that will enrich subsequent engagement with consideration of homiletical methodologies and practicalities. The concepts of beauty and reflection on preaching in this book center heavily upon Western theological traditions; thus, it would also be well for students and practitioners of preaching to engage resources that feature diverse, global voices and a richer landscape of homiletical insight. This would expand the preacher’s grasp of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ, and in our current historical moment of racial reckoning, it is more important than ever to include a broader spectrum of theological traditions.
Pasquarello’s book is a beautiful work in and of itself that preachers will enjoy. His use of language, his poetic styling, and his exploration of beauty from every scriptural, theological, homiletical angle offer new insights, and preachers will delight in his compelling exploration of the divine love that called them into this vocation. Those who are tired of chasing after the next homiletical strategy or exhausted by the effort to be relevant will find a refreshing reorientation to preaching’s goal. They will be reminded that preaching does not need to be useful or trendy or innovative; instead, preaching should arise from the beautiful gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ which causes the preacher, the church, and the world to delight in the gospel’s proclamation.