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?