Homileticians are convinced that preaching brings about change. So, in our conference in Copenhagen (2008) we asked the question: Does preaching make a difference? Preaching, like any human practice, should itself be the object of change. This deep conviction of the Protestant Reformation led to a conference on 'Reforming Preaching' in Wittenberg (2012). We looked into various cultural and contextual factors in relation to preaching: vulnerability (Madurai, 2014), fear (Durham, 2018) and truth (Budapest, 2020). Are 'change' and 'transformation' too ambitious terms to capture the subtle relationship between sermons and the various factors that play a role in the preaching event? Perhaps we need a different language to look into the dynamic realities of preaching. How the biblical text, the person of the preacher and the (local) audience come together in preaching may turn out to be a very fragile, mysterious reality. To understand the weak and fragile power of preaching we turn to 'resonance'. Resonance is about the responses between subjects, and these subjects can be human or non-human. The concept is central in the compelling sociological theory by Hartmut Rosa. But also in the area of religion resonance is a very significant term: the sense of awe while hearing music, the existential involvement in a ritual, the mediation of a religious experience through digital devices.  

Preaching has to do with different resonances. It resonates with the biblical text, with the human soul, with local contextualities and with global challenges. The contextual and global issues of the day are very diverse. Without choosing between the many challenges and crises that humanity and the planet face, we ask what it means for preaching to be ‘resonating discourse’. A myriad of questions could emerge: what type of resonance does preaching aim for? What is needed for a sermon to be a text that resonates with diverse contexts and what does it mean for the language of preaching? If resonance requires that religious speech be inclusive, what does postcolonialism teach homiletics? Does the liturgical situation matter for the resonance of preaching and do digital formats of preaching generate their own types of resonance? 

Preaching that resonates opens three different interrelated aspects for our inquiry: mystery, materiality and mutuality.  

Mystery points to the uncontrollability of the preaching event. In performing the sermon in the liturgy, something happens, but this 'something' cannot be controlled. Preaching that resonates traces the mystery of preaching *as an event*: there is something mysterious in the event of preaching that cannot be controlled by humans, preachers nor audiences. Performative approaches, dramatic methods and narrative structures have tried to capture the logic of form and the nature of language. Mystery points in a different direction. It suggests that preaching resonates with the unseen. While sermons 'name God', respond to divine revelation and testify to God's presence in the world, these are essentially uncontrollable features of religious speech. We trace the aspect of mystery by investigating the relationship between resonance and transcendence in the preaching event. In understanding preaching that resonates we ask: How does the preaching event reflect the aspects of uncontrollability and transcendence? 

Materiality plays a role in the various practices of preaching. In sermon preparation, in the performance of preaching and in sermon reception - materiality is everywhere. Listeners interact with sermons in relation to the liturgical spaces or by means of digital devices. Sermons are performed in the presence of the bodies of listeners or the painful lack thereof such as during pandemic lockdowns. In preparing a sermon, preachers interact with books, people, contextual life situations, the natural world, just to name a few sources for inspiration in sermon preparation. Preaching that resonates is deeply material. It concerns the emotional - often physical - responses of audiences, the liturgical arrangements and digital technologies, and the embodiment of preachers. In understanding preaching that resonates we ask: How does materiality shape the many practices of preaching?  

Mutuality in the discourse of the sermon has been approached from various perspectives in current homiletical research. Several concepts (other-wise, round-table, co-authoring, open space) have been introduced in recent homiletics to stress the collaboration between preachers and listeners and to include voices of a plurality of listeners, especially those that sound from the margins. Preaching that resonates should take into account these many voices. Though preaching is still a monologue from a speaker to an audience, the question that these collaborative reconstructions of preaching pose is how in the discourse of the sermon the other voices and dialogicity are construed. Further, post-colonial and ecological approaches broaden mutuality beyond the conventional boundaries. These approaches call us to do justice to neglected humans and the non-human world. In other words, the aspect of mutuality focuses upon resonance as intersubjectivity in religious discourse. In understanding preaching that resonates we ask: How does intersubjectivity take shape in the language and the form of the sermon?  

The predominant modern way of being and acting in the world can be termed a mode deafness and muteness – and of aggression: it is based on a mode of dynamic stabilisation, which structurally requires incessant growth, acceleration and innovation in order to reproduce the institutional status quo. In this way, modern sensibilities are geared towards control and availability – with the obvious problems of political, ecological and psychological disaster. Against this, the lecture will seek to develop a different mode of being in the world, which can be called a resonant mode. Resonance takes its cue actually from music – its core elements are listening and responding. Resonance does not start with something we do, but with something we perceive, or allow to happen. Here, responsibility is literally turned into respons-ability. It implies a medio-passive (and medio-active) way of relating to the world. Such forms of mediopassivity and respons-ability are, of course, not just developed in theological theories but also enacted and embodied in religious rituals and practices. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that religious authorities and dogmas can easily play out the other way and become resonance killers of the worst sort. Thus the challenge is to work out and define the dividing lines in this Janus Face of Religion, and to find ways in which preaching and church life can regain their capacity to be centres of resonance.  

Engaging the conference theme, “Preaching that Resonates” my keynote address will focus on "mutuality" as a form of social resonance in homiletics. To do so, first, I will elucidate the very meaning of “mutuality” by tapping into cultural, linguistic and ecological wisdom. Second, I will explore the metaphors of resonance, through the roles of space and sound in the preaching where congregations as hearers listen to have their experiences "echoed" by the preacher. The importance of the heterogenous social locations of the hearers and the preachers’ own locations for the creation of that resonance with be highlighted. In a similar vein, I will also discuss the metaphor of vision as sight in the experience of mutuality. Here I will draw insights from Buddhist concept of “hearing the sight” in which sound and sight combine in a single perception to address the suffering of the world and offer healing as a proclamatory act. Exploring the interplay between space, sight, and sound as mutuality in preaching, I will share concrete examples that can be used as sermon illustrations. Also my address will argue how attention to Space, Sight, and Sound is essential to homiletical exegesis.

When preachers preach, they expect to communicate for an impact. Sometimes, their desires are met, but sometimes, they do not seem so. When a sermon strikes a chord in the hearts and minds of listeners, leading to some change, it is said to have resonated. What, then, is the process of this resonance? This paper specifically discusses the elements of mystery in preaching that resonate, answering how the preaching event reflects the aspects of uncontrollability and transcendence. The place of the Word and the Spirit is used to provide an answer. My position is that God’s Word, used to create the universe and sustain all things, is inherently powerful enough to resonate and transform. Though preachers simply exposit and apply the text, there is an active manifestation of divine presence because they preach the very Word of God. The other mysterious dimension is the place of the Holy Spirit. Uncontrollable like the wind and transcendent, his impact is mysterious but tangible. When the Holy Spirit is at work in a preaching process, a connection is established between the Spirit that searches the deep things of God, the preacher that explains spiritual reality with Spirit-taught words and the listeners that discern both. When this connection occurs, there is resonance. I finally drew some implications for the homileticians because resonance cannot be planned or forced but does not foreclose the human element. Drawing from the works of Lisa Washington Lamb, Kenton Anderson, Craig Brian Larson and the Orality movement, the use of verbs, a balance of grace and holiness, artful phrases and the engagement of narratives are suggested. Listeners should be encouraged to open up, and most importantly, preachers must improve their devotional lives as they yield themselves daily and intensely to the Word and the Spirit.