Why theocentric preaching isn’t as boring as it sounds
I first got interested in theocentric preaching when I realized how much anthropocentric preaching I’ve done, and how awful it really is.
We were set up. Two years ago I attended our first D.Min. residency with Haddon Robinson. He and Duane Litfin assigned us a whole bunch of texts and asked us to express the big ideas, or central themes, of these texts. They included stories like David and Goliath and Jesus calming the storm. They knew what was going to happen.
Everyone went running toward anthropocentric themes:
- God will help to slay the giants in our lives.
- Jesus will calm the storms of your life.
Think about that for a second. We were in a room of pretty smart people, all of them seminary trained and with years of ministry experience. And pretty much all of us ran to directly to application and missed the main point of these texts.
The story of David and Goliath isn’t about how to handle the giants in our lives. It’s the story of a man who did the job God asked Israel to do hundreds of years earlier, which they’d neglected: to drive giants out of the land God had given them. It’s about doing what God asked, even when what he asks seems impossible. Still relevant, and much closer to the purpose of the text.
Jesus obviously doesn’t calm all the storms in our lives. The story is ultimately about Jesus’ identity, and we’re not meant to allegorize the storms. It takes a bit of work to get there, but I believe Mark’s account of the story is there to communicate that the Kingdom is secure, even when everything looks lost, because Jesus is in charge. My circumstances aren’t as important as the fact that Jesus is okay, and the Kingdom is okay because of that.
Not only are these themes more faithful than the anthropocentric ones, but they are more satisfying and they ring more true. I don’t know how I could look some of my people in the face and tell them that God will slay all the giants in their lives and calm every storm. He simply hasn’t, and they know that. If I tell them this they look at me like I’m out of touch or a liar.
I can look in their eyes and tell them that if God asks them to do something, He will back them up no matter how impossible it seems. I can tell them that even when everything looks lost, it’s okay because Jesus is still okay, and the Kingdom depends on that and not how well you and I are doing.These themes are more true, to Scripture and to life, and they are more satisfying than how-to sermons.
June 29th, 2006 at 8:16 am
As a catholic who also attends other denominational churches, I do notice my church tends to be theocentric whilst the Protestant churches tend to be anthropocentric but I appreciate the anthropocentric much more than the theocentric. I can recall many anthrocentric ones in detail…but few theocentric ones because they sound so cliche….so technical…detached ?
There are pros and cons to each approach.
Consider a theocentric sermon that tells you the “Kingdom is secure, even when everything looks lost, because Jesus is in charge “. If I am in a depression or a crisis…what does that mean to me ? And yet a anthropocentric sermon that says …Jesus will calm the storms of your life is encouraging and truthfully…Jesus does calm every storm, its only a matter of WHEN . Sometimes its very rapidly…sometimes slowly and as you claim that promise/truth that Jesus can calm the storm of your life and pray and see it happen in your life, it leads to gratitude, love, and even awe of God. So anthropocentric preaching can lead to theocentric outcomes. Theocentric preaching can on the other hand also lead to dead ends. Take ” It’s about doing what God asked, even when what he asks seems impossible ” What does that mean to me in a difficult time ??
In a difficult time…in practical terms it means to me…that God will help to slay the giants in my life. But sometimes such theocentric formulations can seem like those lifeless, politically correct…and in this case…theologically correct things to say that does not hit you but go over your head.
Not saying that there is no value in theocentric preaching…not at all…but it really needs skill/ God’s grace to do it correctly and anthropocentric preaching is also not always that bad. I am also an engineer and I think the difference between theocentric and anthropocentric preaching is likened to the difference between a Phd academic and an engineer.
An engineer applies knowledge to practical ends and uses practical means.
There was once an academic, a Phd in fracture mechanics who came and presented a paper on the model of a ratcheting fracture mechanism he developed which can be used to explain a problem we faced and also the solution. Then he said…” But then, you have found the solution, you may not have known the reason or the model but you found the correct solution ” And anthropocentric preaching may be likened to an engineering approach… simplifying complex theory and science/theology into approximations and using it to solve real problems. There is value in both!
June 29th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Gerard,
You have some good thoughts there.
I think it may be possible to preach a passage theocentrically and still have something to say to someone who is depressed or grieving. That\’s where preaching to real people you know comes in - you can\’t get away with pronouncements about God that have nothing to do with people here and now.
For instance, with the story of Jesus calming the storm, I might say, \”To some of us, it looks like the Kingdom is anything but secure, and it sure doesn\’t look like Jesus is in charge. And besides, what good is it if the Kingdom is secure if I am not okay?\” I would have to relate what the depressed person might be going through to the theocentric message of the text, and I believe it would connect.
I\’ll be curious to try this out as I work on case examples.
I appreciate your thoughts - lots of good stuff in there.