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.
Read more about this topic: The Form Of Preaching
Famous quotes containing the word sermon:
“Philosophic argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe, in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe, has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith that is in me; but my heart has always assured and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be Divine Reality. The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a mere human production. This belief enters into the very depth of my conscience. The whole history of man proves it.”
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852)