discussion which follows proceeds from that understanding and, therefore, in attempts to characterize that, revelation and preaching will be interwoven. To facilitate our thinking, the discussion will be framed on three phrases: proceeding from silence, heard in a whisper, shouted from the housetop. How one understands a word as an event in the world of sound depends to a great extent upon whether that word is experienced against a backdrop of silence or in a room of many words. We