The difference between a poet and a prophet: Dialectical rhetoric and the role of the Spirit in preaching,with reference to Karl Barth and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Abstract

Do preachers really preach? Aiming for the relative safety of the ‘both/and’, many preachers slip into sermonizations of the Word of God, neglecting the activity of the Spirit. Barth’s early preaching (especially the infamous ‘Titanic sermon’) often flaunts rhetoric and ‘paradox’ rather than heraldic proclamation. Famous preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones was well known for his criticisms of Barth’s dialectical theology. Though rarely considered as feasible interlocutors, Lloyd-Jones’s call for prophetic ‘unction’ in preaching reveals a remarkably similar homiletic to the later Barth. Preaching as ‘prophecy’ emphasizes the active expectation of the preacher to be impacted by the power of the Spirit.