Date of Award

Fall 2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

Abstract

Many have argued that the introduction of information technology and the subsequent birth of social media alter the way we communicate and relate socially. This phenomenon has comprehensively changed the methods and means of communication, the social structures and the social norms in which we operate. As Walter Ong exposes, we have moved into a Secondary Orality age transforming the way we communicate and relate socially.1 This change has created what Marshall McLuhan termed: "An Age of Anxiety," where people are using old tools in new environments.2 This reality has entered into the field of homiletics, resulting in previously dominant homiletic methodologies not being as effective, leading to decreased attention, application, and life transformation. Therefore, the practice and art of homiletics (a form of communication) needs to be critically reflected upon in light of this new and rapidly changing development.3 How does one preach for a contemporary social media culture in a way that is biblically rooted, theologically robust, and historically consistent, resulting in active attention, application, and life transformation? Through the medium of a non-fiction popular book as the project's artifact, a new dominant methodology will be presented. Using the metaphor of a luthier, a new dominant, reproducible, and teachable preaching methodology will be introduced for a social media culture.4 This new proposed methodology will consist of tribal preparation, inductive sermon structure, shared authority through authenticity, dialogical delivery, action-based application, and a metaphor/narrative/image medium resulting in active attention, application, and life transformation. 1 Walter Jackson Ong, Orality and Literacy, (London: Routledge, 2002). 2 Marshal McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, (Corte Madera: Gingko Press, 2011). 3 Ong, Orality and Literacy. 4 A luthier is a person who makes or repairs stringed instruments.

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