Sermon as Conversation: An Introduction to Progressional Implicatory Preaching
(This paper is a part of a larger paper, “Participatory Preaching: Progressional Implicatory Preaching and How It Can be a Means of Liberation,” I wrote in a preaching course I took in the fall of 2019. In it I argue why Doug Pagitt’s progressional implicatory preaching ought to be considering a liberating preaching method among the many others.)
When there has been liberation, there have been sermons. Throughout history, any monumental event of liberation has been animated by a rousing speech or sermon. From the preaching of Jarena Lee, Oscar Romero, and Martin Luther King, Jr., sermons have impassioned Christians to live into the gospel–a gospel that demands the liberation of the oppressed. For Lee, after a transformative encounter with a sermon from abolitionist and preacher Richard Allen, she also was called by God to preach despite being a black woman. She preached unapologetically about the abolition of slavery and the freedom of African slaves. Oscar Romero’s life and sermons were so outspoken against the oppression of Salvadorans that he was in the middle of a sermon at mass when he was fatally shot and killed under the order of right-wing politician, Roberto D’Aubuisson. Although King was not assassinated while giving a sermon, his sermon at Riverside Church in New York City dramatically shifted the perspective Americans had on him. He famously spoke out against the Vietnam War on April 4th, 1967. By speaking out against the war, King’s approval plummeted, and exactly one year later he was assassinated by James Earl Ray. History has shown us that when liberation is on the line and a sermon demands people to act in accordance to liberation, the oppressors will not back down, thus making a sermon of liberation all the more critical for liberation to occur.
These preachers are quintessential examples of why sermons are essential for the liberation of the oppressed, but a sermon that impassions its hearers for liberation does not simply happen by forcibly declaring a selection of words. Alternatively stated, how can a sermon be crafted and delivered to arouse the preacher’s hearers for the liberation of themselves and/or others? The methods are integral to the message; in fact, the message is the method. There are a variety of preaching methods liberation preachers, in particular, have utilized to craft and deliver their sermons–most notably expository, womanist, and narrative. While these three methods are not an exhaustive list of the methods by which preachers craft and deliver their sermons, they have and remain vital methods to engender action of and for liberation in the sermon’s listeners.
I have no interest in minimizing the importance of these methods for the crafting and delivering of a liberating sermon; however, in this paper I want to suggest another preaching method to add to the many ways in which a sermon can beget efforts towards liberation. This method, on the surface, appears completely alien, dare I say strange, to the other methods. However, I will argue it has much in common with the theological commitments of at least two of the previous methods: womanist and narrative. It is also a method that takes seriously how it, as a method, is the message. This method was coined by Doug Pagitt and is called progressional implicatory preaching. In this paper I will discuss how progressional implicatory preaching (referred to as PIP from here on out) is a preaching method that moves its participants towards liberative action in the world in its connections to the rhetorical methods of womanist preaching. To arrive at this thesis, I will first explain what PIP is, why it is important, and how it can be employed.
My Social Location and Experience with Progressional Implicatory Preaching
For a paper exploring the liberatory power of a particular preaching method, it would be apropos for me to socially locate myself, expound on my experience with PIP, and briefly explain why PIP can be added to the repertoire of preachers of liberation.
I long for the flourishing of all people, especially of those who are oppressed. In addition, I long for sermons that move people to actionably support the liberation of oppressed peoples. Therefore, it would be remiss to not disclose that I am as privileged as one comes. I am a straight, cisgender, white man. I grew up in a middle-class home in a South Dakota. I now currently live and work in Minneapolis, Minnesota and am a seminarian…