2018-04-17 The Perils of Persuasive Preaching

April 17 2018

ICSA has published hundreds of articles during its nearly 40-year existence.  In my opinion, one of the most significant was a 1977 article from Christianity Today, which we reprinted with permission in 1985 in Cultic Studies Journal.  The article was written by A. Duane Litfin, who was then Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Dallas Seminary; he later became president of Wheaton College. Entitled "The Perils of Persuasive Preaching," the article got to the ethical heart of cultic dynamics and spiritual abuse.  You can read the article on the SAR website: https://www.spiritualabuseresources.com/articles/the-perils-of-persuasive-preaching  

I'll give you a few teaser excerpts in the hope that you'll read the entire article.

Kierkegaard’s analysis at least raises an important question. The genesis of any theory of discourse must lie in the philosophy or theology that underlies it. Is it possible that some modem preaching practices are based upon secular theories of persuasion whose underlying assumptions are contrary to those of Christianity?

I am convinced that this is a question we need to be answering, and I would like to suggest a particularly troublesome area where we might begin. It has to do with the role of persuasion in preaching in general, and the goal of preaching in particular. ...

Significantly, homileticians tend to hold that the goal of the preacher is similar to that of the secular persuader, to elicit a desired response from the listener, and that it is quite proper to use a broad range of rhetorical techniques to achieve this goal.  ...

While we may grant that the secular persuader can proceed in this way, using his techniques to gain a particular response, are there not additional considerations for the preacher? One may ask whether the preacher should use any technique in an effort to induce the desired response from his audience -whether, in fact, gaining “the response he desires” should be the preacher’s goal at all. For is it not possible that having this goal increases the possibility that the results will be of man and not of God? ...

All this suggests that through the use of certain techniques it is possible to get results, even where the Holy Spirit is not active at all. But according to the Scriptures, God has said that his work is to be accomplished “not by might nor by power but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). The psalmist wrote, “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Ps. 127: 1). Paul later applied this principle to preaching when he avowed to the Corinthians that “my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (I Cor. 2:4,5). Paul obviously understood that persuasive words of wisdom” so highly prized in the rhetorically oriented Corinthian culture, could never bring men and women to Christ. Only the straightforward presentation of the Gospel could do that. The use of persuasive techniques might indeed win a response, but it would be a response based upon the wisdom of men” and not the “power of God.” Paul had the insight to see that such results would inevitably “make void” the very Gospel he preached. ...

In an excellent article on attitude change in the Handbook of Social Psychology (III,173), psychologist William McGuire suggests that human attitude change may be broken down into at least five steps or levels: attention, comprehension, yielding, retention, and action. The hearer must “go through each of these steps if communication is to have ultimate persuasive impact,” he says, “and each depends on the occurrence of the preceding steps. The traditional approach to homiletics seems to suggest that the goal of preaching is the third step, yielding; that is, the preacher’s goal is to induce the listener to yield to (and ultimately to act upon) a particular value, attitude, or belief. I suggest that the preacher’s goal should not be viewed as the yielding step at all but simply the previous step, comprehension.

Someone might protest that this makes preaching merely a sterile intellectual exercise; but to say that is to miss the point. Certainly the preacher must deal with the whole man, including his emotions. My point is that the goal of preaching should be so to present the Gospel that the listener comprehends, sees, is grasped by the issues involved. This may well include and even require the use of “emotional appeals,” but those appeals will be directed toward helping the listener to comprehend, not toward inducing him to yield. Technique has a valid role in inducing comprehension but should not be used by the preacher to induce yielding.

Preaching must always be a fork-in-the-road experience for the listener. He must be so clearly and powerfully confronted with the truth that he cannot evade or ignore it. Comprehension is pressed upon him and he is forced to make a decision. But the decision is his to make, a matter between him and the Holy Spirit. The preacher has shown him the choice; now he is forced to decide, to accept or reject.

What the preacher must not do is use the many techniques available to him to shuttle the listener down one road instead of the other, even though he deeply wants the listener to choose that way. To do so is to violate the listener’s freedom by manipulating him; but worse, it is to shoulder an intolerable burden, one that belongs only to the Holy spirit It is to take upon oneself the responsibility of getting results.