PT 508 - HOMILETICS I Fall Term 2011, Tuesdays 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.Reformed Theological Seminary/CharlotteDr. John W. P. OliverCOURSE PROSPECTUSThe fall terms of Communication/Homiletics Classes are primarily lecture courses. The springterms are laboratories. This course concentrates on the understanding, the construction anddelivery of biblical expositions. The latter part of the term is reserved for each student to delivera Bible exposition from a text of his own choosing. Preaching by students will begin at the endof October or the first week in November, depending on the final tally of those taking the coursefor credit. If necessary, a second section for preaching sermons will be established.While the course is a lecture course, assignments accompanying the lectures will provideopportunity to implement the material being presented. For example, when the lecture materialdeals with the introduction of a sermon, students will prepare and submit an introduction for asermon on an assigned passage from Scripture.The text to be used for these assignments will be the same for all and different from the sermonto be preached. All will use Romans 15:14-21 for assignments, i.e. an introduction, aproposition, an outline etc. until a full sermon structure (without a full manuscript) has beenconstructed in the course of the term.Passages/texts selected by the student for the biblical exposition to be preached this term are tobe submitted in writing during class on September 27, 2011. A form is attached at the end ofthis prospectus. The sermon to be preached during the latter portion of this term must be presented in writtenform (full manuscript) to the professor on the day it is delivered orally. While a full text of thesermon must be submitted for grading, the student does not thereby necessarily need to deliverthe sermon by reading the manuscript. The delivery may be from memory, the use of fullnotes, the use of limited notes or by using the manuscript. Delivery may (possibly) becommented on as a part of the evaluation. However, the construction and content of the sermonare the primary bases for rating the sermon delivered during the fall term. Delivery is a majorportion of the laboratory experience during the spring term and forms part of the basis, alongwith the construction and content, of the spring term grade. The sermon in both written and oralforms constitutes a significant portion of the grade earned for the fall term. “Unannounced quizzes,” in the form of a brief assignment given without prior notice and to besubmitted the following week, may be expected. These can serve as a means of discipline tokeep pace with lectures in the incremental development of a homiletical structure for a sermonon Romans 15:14-21. The written assignments related to the sermon construction from Romans15:14-21 will be evaluated and returned during the term.There will be no mid-term examination.A supplemental/complementary text is required: the one by Haddon W. Robinson, BiblicalPreaching, the Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. This is to be read in itsentirety as a supplement/complement to Broadus. Robinson, as other writers on the expositorymethod, base a considerable amount of their writing on Broadus, but speak in the present settingand reflect their own developments and insights. Students will be required on the finalexamination to indicate whether or not this supplemental text and the 23 chapters of Broaduswere read in their entirety. Robinson will be a tremendous help in expanding the student=sunderstanding and employing that understanding in the development of the homiletical structure.There will be a relatively brief, objective final examination during the examination period at theend of the term. The content will be a basic review of what constitutes a biblical exposition andthe construction of the various parts of it as those things are learned from reading Broadus andRobinson and from the lectures. Two DVDs will be listened to during the term. The first is by the Rev. Ian Hamilton, aPresbyterian pastor in Cambridge, England, from his series of messages on ExperimentalCalvinism. The second DVD is a Bible exposition by the Rev. Vaughn Roberts, rector, St. Ebb’sChurch, Oxford (Church of England). Dr. Oliver will provide those DVDs early in the term. Aone page critique on each DVD and on separate pages when submitted should indicate anunderstanding of the spirit called for in Calvinistic preaching in Hamilton’s tape and theexemplary construction and development of a biblical exposition in Roberts’s tape. Thesereports are due on November 1, 2011.Reading assignments for the basic text (Broadus – PLEASE NOTE: STUDENTS NEED THEFOURTH EDITION) will be generally indicated week by week as lectures and assignmentsdevelop. This will indicate the pace to be maintained. Again, the reading of the text byRobinson is at the student’s pace, but it must be accomplished!PUBLIC READING OF SCRIPTURE LESSONSEach student will read an assigned chapter of Scripture as a means of developing skill in theimmensely important art of public reading of Lessons from the Word of God. This term thefollowing Gospels will be used for such reading: St. John and St. Matthew. Oral Interpretation isa needed skill for pastors/preachers. REQUIRED TEXTSBasic Text On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, John A. Broadus (Fourth Edition only, revised byVernon L. Stanfield), through chapter 23 for Fall Term.Supplemental Text (required reading)Biblical Preaching, the Development and Delivery of Expository Messages, Haddon W.RobinsonSupplemental Book (required reading)Why Johnny Can’t Preach, T. David GordonRecommended(Herewith are some suggestions. This is far from a full bibliography!)The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, Robinson and LarsonThe Art of Prophesying, William PerkinsBiblical Preaching, Proclaiming Truth with Clarity and Relevance, Donald SunukjianThe Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, Keith Willhite & Scott Gibson (editors)Expository Preaching, John MacArthurFeed My Sheep, Albert Mohler et alHeralds of God, James Stuart StewartHim We Proclaim, Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures,