ABSTRACT
During this century people's imaginative construction of the world has become more and more complex, leaving them less and less certain that the language people have inherited adequately expressed the reality they experience. Recent scholarship has examined how classical rhetorical argument may lead to less effective communication because of the way television has conditioned the receptivity of people. For teachers of homiletics, this is a major issue if not the major issue. They need clarity about the assumptions by which they are guiding the class response and by which they are making evaluating statements. The development of a contemporary homiletic begins not by defining first principles but by considering the actual phenomenon of preaching as experienced by members of the congregation. This choice of starting point is a part of what it means to live in this postmodern age of ours: no accepted authority gains automatic acceptance.
