Feb 10, 2009
Pulpit Personality?
…You know who I’m talking about. Numerous ministry leaders who are gracious, authentic, and engaging when talking with friends over lunch. But turn on the camera, or step into the pulpit, and they become someone else. Radio personalities suffer the same thing when they get in front of a microphone.
…Watch regular television and listen to the difference. Stop trying to be bigger than life. Be real. Speak normally. It doesn’t make you more anointed or powerful when you try to sound like God. Talk like everyone else, and you’ll be amazed at the connection.
[link: philcooke.com]
Yes, that’s the key. Try talking with your friends the way you shout/yell/scream in the pulpit, I am sure they will send you to the psychiatric hospital.
Filed by edmund at 5.26 pm under Faith |
4 Comments
Anson
I wonder if it has to do how the preacher sees himself.
Of course I agree all that 巴士阿伯 outrage should not belong to the pulpit. But I do know some very good preachers do utilize a different voice from their normal conversational one. e.g. Darrell Johnson
Some see themselves as counselors and comforters, and they can preach like they speak to a friend, but some see themselves as exhorters and encouragers, and to some degree they have to raise their voice to speak like a football coach, and even give it a little boost if it is necessary to give a wake up call to the congregation.
So is the preacher the congregation’s friend, coach, teacher, messenger from God, or even pathetically, a mere employee? I think answering this question will determine the voice of the preacher.
Feb 10th, 2009
edmund
Good point, Anson. How do we see ourselves as preachers?
I also notice those older movies that based on the Bible, most of the times have their characters speak in the old “King James” English, whereas recent ones are more intimate and calm.
Are we saying that we are also influenced by Bible translations, which in turn are influenced by cultural conditions?
I have no problem listening to a powerful sermon by Gordon Fee, but I have trouble listening week after week of preachers like John Hagee…
Feb 10th, 2009
Anson
Haha, your last sentence rhymed. It’s so funny…
Well, it’s an interesting point. Now can we separate the tone of delivery from the meaning of the message? I guess rhetoricians will tell us we can’t. Then it means there is no such thing as neutral contemporization of the bible. Even if the meaning doesn’t get changed, the force and the sense of authority does.
It’ll be interesting if bible translators take into account the tone of delivery and its perceived meaning if the passages are read out loud……. which they should be and have always been.
Btw, I’m taking Hebrew now and when I’m practicing how to read Hebrew out loud by listening to audio bibles, it’s funny how middle-easterners (whether it is Jew or Muslim) raise their voices slightly and keep it in a mono-tonic style. Perhaps that’s from a tradition that seeks to maintain the authoritative voice, which Westerners have lost.
Feb 11th, 2009
edmund
I didn’t notice until you point out my unintentional rhyme!
I guess the original post was not so much about prohibiting the preacher to raise his/her voice. Using Hagee as an example, I think the problem is ALWAYS preaching with a so-called “preacher voice”, no matter what the message is. To be authoritative does not necessarily means arrogant, but a firm and enduring attitude to hold on to what you believe in (interesting enough, that’s what NT means when talking about “gentleness”!)
Feb 11th, 2009
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