The Implications of Harry Emerson Fosdick’s Life-Situation Preaching for African-American Preachers

Abstract

This study discusses the strengths, weaknesses, and implications of the Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick’s life-situation preaching for young preachers in mainline churches in general and African-Americans in particular. Contemporary preaching in mainline churches does not get at the personal and social problems that people face. Ineffective and irrelevant preaching has plagued today’s preaching enterprise. Life-situation preaching addresses this problem by giving the preacher an approach that starts with listeners’ urgent practical needs and offers a practical solution.This study consults Fosdick's major works and that of select life-situation proponents. His writings on sermon composition and delivery are indispensable to this study. Although different perspectives are considered in this study, the primary focus has been on Fosdick’s thinking regarding life-situation preaching and personal counseling as a means to address the issues that are disrupting lives, troubling minds, and burdening consciences. This study concluded that life-situation preaching has some weaknesses but it is nevertheless an effective approach to preaching for contemporary young practitioners in general and preachers of African-American listeners in particular when used intelligently and creatively.