Preaching to the Great Diversity of Us

I was a little disappointed in So That All Might Know:  Preaching that Engages the Whole Congregation by Thomas Troeger and Edward Everding Jr.  I heard Tom Troeger preach wonderfully at The Montreat Music and Worship Conference last summer.  I hoped this new book might help me gain insight into how Troeger approaches sermon preparation.  It did.  Although he doesn’t go as far into the new territory into which I hoped he might venture.

Tom Troeger nicely describes the enigma of preaching to a congregation that seems to hear very different sermons than the one preached.  Indeed, listeners of the same sermon often describe hearing very different messages.  Troeger believes this is because people have different learning styles and so assimilate the sermon differently.  The theory of Eight Intelligences, outlined by Howard Garner, has been utilized by educators in the classroom for some time.  Troeger uses this theory to describe how the sermon might be created so all listener/learners can hear and respond to the gospel.  It is Troeger’s implementation of the eight intelligences theory for preaching that I found disappointing.

Writing for people with Linguistic intelligence is relatively easy Troeger points out.   Most preachers have been writing for the “Word smart” among us forever.  Troeger suggests using numerical calculations or scientific reasoning to capture the attention of the Logical-mathematically intelligent.  The musically intelligent appreciate refrains and sound pictures with words.  Troeger suggests the preacher needs to embody the sermon so gestures flow freely for the bodily-kinesthetic learner.  Those with spatial intelligence appreciate having pictures and spaces drawn with words.  Those with Interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence are drawn to preaching that shows an understanding of people and self awareness.  Finally the naturalistically intelligent listen well to preaching that is attune to the natural world.

While Troeger’s description of the various intelligences was useful I was dissatisfied with how tied to the linguistic intelligence the preaching connections were.  In the end, everything came back to words.  One would think the interest in multiple intelligence theory would give rise to preaching that might make use of images, art or music or physical activity during the message to engage the spatial, musical and kinesthetic learners.  Perhaps elements from nature, plants, flowers, rocks or water could be included in the preaching moment for the naturalist.  The Logical-mathematical learners might appreciate a good puzzle to ponder.  Those with interpersonal or intrapersonal intelligence might find conversations in the pew intriguing.  In short, there are surely ways to engage the multiple intelligences other than simply using our words.

The second half of So That All Might Know is devoted to preaching in child ways of knowing and adult ways of knowing.  While the first section of the book, dealing with multiple intelligence theory seems to be primarily authored by Tom Troeger; the child ways and adult ways of knowing seems to come from Edward Everding.  

Everding seems to loosely follow Fowler’s Stages of Faith as he describes two kinds of childhood learning which he names Magical Maggie and Literal Larry.  Although somewhat simpler than Fowler, these two typologies draw the preacher’s attention to a couple of important childhood ways of knowing the world and remind us of the usefulness of a child’s perspective.  Not only do children draw our attention to the mystical and simple realities of God, children inhabit our pews with great regularity and deserve our consideration as we preach.

I was not impressed with the four ways of adult knowing.  Everding again describes his four ways of adult knowing using typologies.  However, whereas the child typologies seem to be based on stages of faith tied to child development, the adult typologies do not seem to be tied to anything.  Rather they seem to be stereotypes of personalities sometimes found in congregations.  It is an intriguing idea, however, to consider how different personality types might respond to sermons.  Everding’s theories started me thinking about the Myer’s Briggs personality preferences.  I began to wonder how a thinker or a feeler might respond to my work or how a senser or intuitor might hear what I was saying.

Ultimately Troeger and Everding’s work invites the preacher to consider how our audience is different from ourselves.  They are quite correct in suggesting that a very diverse group of listeners and learners makes up the body of Christ.  Our challenge is to look beyond our own preferences, personalities, styles of learning and comfort zones to engage the whole congregation.  It is an exercise in creativity and