The Digital Pulpit

Preaching in the Revolutionary Era of Online Technology and Social Media

Edited by Sunggu A. Yang

foreword by O. Wesley Allen Jr.

The Digital Pulpit

Preaching in the Revolutionary Era of Online Technology and Social Media

Copyright © 2024 Wipf and Stock Publishers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-8397-1

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-8398-8

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-8399-5

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Yang, Sunggu A., 1980–, editor. | Allen, O. Wesley, Jr., 1965–, foreword.

Title: The digital pulpit : preaching in the revolutionary era of online technology and social media / edited by Sunggu A. Yang ; foreword by O. Wesley Allen Jr.

Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2024 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-6667-8397-1 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-6667-8398-8 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-6667-8399-5 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Online preaching. | Webcasting—Religious aspects—Christianity.

Classification: BV4235.O5 .D53 2024 (paperback) | BV4235.O5 .D53 (ebook)

09/17/15

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are taken from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Preface

Contributors

Chapter 1: The Digital Media Sermon

Chapter 2: Understanding the Paradox of (Im)Perfection

Chapter 3: Co-preaching

Chapter 4: Symbol Preaching in the Digital Age

Chapter 5: Metaverse Preaching

Chapter 6: Being There Even When You Are Not

Chapter 7: E-Word?

Chapter 8: Resolution and Remote Real Presence

To All Preachers and Homileticians Pioneering the Digital World for the Sacred Practice of Preaching

Foreword

O. Wesley Allen Jr.

Given my age, I may not be the best person to write a foreword for a book concerned with the digital pulpit. I barely made the cut of being Gen X instead of a Baby Boomer. Streaming, pre-recorded, and virtual reality homiletical concerns should really be a young preacher’s game. But, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic changed that for all of us. It made online worship everyone’s game. The problem, however, is that no one knows the rules of the game.

The mass move to online worship brought on by the pandemic follows a long trajectory of evolving forms of media and communication ...

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About The Digital Pulpit: Preaching in the Revolutionary Era of Online Technology and Social Media

The focus of this volume is the practice of preaching as it is developed and performed in today's revolutionary context of digital technology and social media. In the twentieth century, the Christian pulpit adopted and made good use of digital technology and social media, be it via television, radio, film, cassette, or CD-ROM. Now, the revolutionary nature of digital technology and social media in the twenty-first century demands an entirely new theological assessment, with methodological adoptive concerns in relation to the practice of preaching. In this volume, a group of global homileticians provides their unique insights to the following questions and more. What technologies do we have at our disposal, and what technologies can we use in connection with preaching? If any, do we have a fine homiletical theology of digital technology and social media? What are the best practices of preaching that can be conducted with current digital technology and social media platforms? What merits and harms have we found in those best practices? What new homiletical strategies are emerging in the current technological and social media context? What contributions or connections do we see from existing homiletical theories in the current context of preaching?

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Table of Contents