Developing Biographical Narratives: Insights for Preaching from Charles Swindoll
4.
Narrative Structure for Movement and Interest
Let
the narrative direct the over-all movement of the sermon. Biographical narratives
may be designed with traditional deductive rhetorical forms such as a key word
or analytical; however, even when these forms are employed there must be a sensitivity
to the narrative flow of the text. Most biographical narratives do not conform
to three points. If any pattern may be detected, biographical narratives distinctly
follow a five-fold division of situation, stress, search, solution, and the
(new) situation.16
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Although
deductive structure has been one of the hallmarks of expository preaching, a
satisfactory expository method for approaching biographical narratives is to
combine both the deductive and inductive methods, a mediating solution that
Swindoll does so eloquently and effectively in many of his sermons. Hybrid sermon
forms (combining deductive and inductive elements) are many; however, an increasingly
popular model (that Swindoll often employs) is to treat the biographical narrative
in the first part of the sermon inductively while the latter part of the sermon
reflects a more deductive form. In this way the preacher has the ability to
be true to the narrative form, he or she invites the listening congregation
along for the journey, and the traditional rhetorical structures that have served
the church well historically do not have to be sacrificed.
The
plentiful biographical narratives of the Bible certainly merit every preacher’s
attention to develop and preach. Biographical narratives are biblical texts
that uniquely communicate God’s revelation. As such, biographical sermons
that incorporate insights from Swindoll’s biographical method and the best
of today’s homiletical wisdom may allow today’s preacher to communicate
biographical narratives with biblical integrity and contemporary relevance.
The
influential biographical preacher Clarence Macartney once wrote about the glory
of the preacher’s task in preaching the great biographical narratives.
He stated that “The goal of every earnest preacher is to make the word
which he proclaims become flesh, as it were, dwell among men. That is the great
purpose of biographical preaching. The truth is revealed in the personalities
of the Bible.”17
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Joe
Alain is Pastor of First Baptist Church of Port Allen, LA.