Shaping the Claim: Moving from Text to Sermon

by Marvin A. McMickle

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2008

Overview

Shaping the Claim helps the preacher discover the core of the message to be preached—the sermonic "claim." In order to be effective, says McMickle, a sermon needs to address the hearers at three distinct levels; the head or the intellect, the heart or passion and conviction, and the hand or an expected and desired response.

In order to discover the biblical "claim" that a sermon should make upon a particular congregation at a particular time, McMickle presents a helpful three-step process:

1. What?
2. So What?
3. Now What?

Key Features

• Title: Shaping the Claim: Moving from Text to Sermon
• Author: Marvin A. McMickle
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 96

Contents

Top Highlights

“The phrase ‘sermonic claim’ is meant to imply that a sermon ought to do one of the following things: assert something that is significant, ask for something that is substantial to the point requiring personal or communal commitment, or advocate for something that is sacred and deeply spiritual.” (Page 6)

“Fred Craddock is especially helpful when he refers to this idea of a sermonic claim as ‘the theme’ of the sermon that the preacher should be able to state in one simple sentence.” (Page 7)

“ethos refers to the hearers being persuaded by the speaker’s character.” (Page 55)

“Sermons ought to be about things that are biblically and theologically compelling. Sermons ought to be about things that are intellectually challenging and engaging. Sermons ought to be about things that are contextually and personally relevant and applicable to the lives of those who hear the word on any given day.” (Page 9)

“‘Now what?’ will use Aristotle’s concept of ethos to imagine the kinds of next steps that listeners might take as a result of having heard the word of the Lord. Sermons are not simply to be heard; they are to create some response on the part of those who have heard.” (Page 2)

Product Details

• Title: Shaping the Claim: Moving from Text to Sermon
• Author: Marvin A. McMickle
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 96

About Marvin A. McMickle

Marvin A. McMickle has been serving the church of Jesus Christ as a pastor, professor and widely published author for more than 30 years. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1948, Dr. McMickle is a 1970 graduate of Aurora University in Illinois with a B.A. in Philosophy. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1973 and did two additional years of graduate study at Columbia University in New York. He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey in 1983. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1998. He was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Aurora University in 1990. He was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1973 at Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City where he served as an assistant minister and later as the associate pastor from 1972-1976. He served as the pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church of Montclair, New Jersey from 1976-1986. During that time he served as President of the New Jersey Council of Churches (1984-1986) and as a member of the Montclair Board of Education (1982- 1986). He also served two terms as president of the Montclair Branch of the NAACP. During those years Dr. McMickle served on the adjunct faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary, New Brunswick Theological Seminary and New York Theological Seminary Dr. McMickle has served as the Senior Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio since 1987. During that time he led the church in establishing a ministry for people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. This ministry was the first of its kind in the entire country. The church also offers ministries in the areas of job training, a hunger center, three AA units, an all-day head start program, a credit union with over $2 million in assets and a tithing program in which the congregation tithes out to the community 10% of its annual income every year. He has also served as president of both the NAACP and the Urban League in Cleveland, as well as serving as president of the Shaker Heights Board of Education and as president of the Karamu House Performing Arts Center. Dr. McMickle is the Professor of Homiletics at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio where he has served on the full-time faculty since 1996. He is the author of eight books, with three more coming out in 2008. He has also authored dozens of articles that regularly appear in professional journals and magazines. He is a Contributing Editor for The Living Pulpit. He is a featured writer for the National Baptist Voice, the quarterly journal of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. His sermons and essays regularly appear in Preaching magazine and in The African American Pulpit. In the winter semester of 2009 he will be a Visiting Professor at Yale University Divinity School. Dr. McMickle has been married to Peggy Lorraine Noble since 1975 and they have one son, Aaron who is a middle school teacher in New York City.