PREACHING SKILLS
Eugene Peterson Discusses His Book "Tell It Slant"
On the importance of paying attention to language
Eugene Peterson
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There has been a fair amount of talk in recent years about dialogical preaching, giving people a chance to talk in a sermon. What are your thoughts on that? How can pulpit talk include more feedback and conversation?
I'm not sure how. I'm never quite sure how I feel about it. There's a place for the pulpit to be proclamatory, to be truly kerygmatic, to announce something, to say the word that changes the way people perceive things. I'd much rather use the word conversation because dialogue in that sense seems contrived. You really can't have a dialogue with one person standing up in front of a congregation or standing in the aisle of a congregation and answering questions or making comments. It diminishes the power of the pulpit. There's almost something condescending about it. Conversation is truly conversation when it's between two people or in a small group of people. I don't think we can use the pulpit as a primary way of doing conversation. So I'm not enthusiastic about dialogical preaching, at least as I've heard people talk about it.
In addition to listening to people in daily life, literature has been a profound way that you've learned to listen to people. I saw an interview in which you talked about a breakthrough you had when you read James Joyce's Ulysses.
Yes, some of the best evangelists—I'm not sure that's the right word—we have right now are novelists. Marilynne Robinson wrote the novel Gilead, which was read by millions and was on the bestselling list in New York Times for quite a while. It has a lot to do with conversation, listening, paying attention to language. Here's somebody who is one of our friends. She uses language in a gospel way, she understands theology, she understands the spiritual life. She's helping us do our work.
I have others I'd put in that category. Now, James Joyce, I would probably not think of him as a fellow evangelical, but he's sure made an impact on the way people use language and understand the culture and their souls. So I welcome those kind of people. Wallace Stegner is a master at doing this. He was not a Christian—at least he was not a confessed Christian—but he uses language in a way that makes us respect people in their souls, in their inner life, in their relational life. I wish we had more people like that. Ron Hansen does it, Philip Yancey does it, but I'm thinking now in terms of fiction. Fiction is one of our lead ways in which we learn how to use language in a way that opens up spirituality. I think Anne Tyler ought to be required reading in every seminary class on pastoral work.
Eugene Peterson is professor emeritus of spiritual theology at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. Among his many other books are Eat This Book and The Message.
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