Ornamentation of A Sermon
The Form of Preaching’s third focus is the ways in which a sermon can be ornamented. Ornamentation includes aesthetic techniques but also formal characteristics that comprise a sermon’s structure. In all, Basevorn cites twenty-two ornaments. The list of ornaments can be divided into two main categories: ornaments that are intrinsic to a sermon’s content, and ornaments that deal with the presentation of the sermon. The first fifteen ornaments are intrinsic to a sermon, and the list of intrinsic ornaments is as follows:
- Invention of the theme
- Winning-over of the audience
- Prayer
- Introduction
- Division
- Statement of the parts
- Proof of the parts
- Amplification
- Digression (or transition)
- Correspondence
- Agreement of correspondence
- Circuitous development
- Convolution
- Unification
- Conclusion (p. 132).
While the intrinsic ornaments deal with the composition and structure of a sermon, the extrinsic ornaments are:
- Coloration
- Modulation of voice
- Appropriate gesture
- Timely humour
- Allusion
- Firm impression
- Weighing of subject matter (p. 132).
These ornaments are presentational and are a means for delivering an effective sermon.
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