The attempt of renewal of the form and the content of the church proclamation

Abstract

Proclamation of the God’s word was and still is one of the most important tasks of the Church. Over the centuries, there have been attempts to reform the preaching. In nineteenth century, a certain novelty was the striving for recognition of the Bible in preaching. Unfortunately, the Holy Bible was dethroned in the Neo-Scholastic sermons. In practice, the Neo-Scholastic trend, for a predominating form of the preaching, considered catechism sermons. Subsequently, improving of the preaching could be seen in a renewed form. The coryphées of the new form demanded knowledge of the theology, the world and the human being. The guarantee of fruitful proclamation, however, was the personal holiness of the preacher. The homiletic movement in the second phase postulated a reform by renewal of the content of the preaching. The kerygmatic movement undermined the catechism preaching. It demanded preaching of the crucial salutary content, in such a way that the act of preaching would update the message of the Bible. Considering the difficult times, the pioneers of renewal made a quantum leap in taking on such a significant task, changing the form and content of the preaching. Still however, restoring the Bible to its supreme position in preaching is a challenge facing the Church.