山道期刊

Religious Commitment in a Pluralistic Society: An Old Testament Perspective

WONG Fook Kong

This essay begins with Brueggemann’s observation about the “amazing pluralism” both within and without the Church. I agree with this statement with the qualification that this has been the experience of Asian churches all along. Pluralism both within and without its ranks is not new to Asian churches. When we look at the Old Testament against the background of the ancient Near East, it is evident that ancient Israel also lived in a pluralistic society. Different gods competed for loyalty among the nations. Within Israel too there were different views about YHWH. It is against these competing ideologies that the authors of the Bible affirmed their commitment to worship YHWH as the one and only God. Thus pluralism should not be a reason for abandoning one’s commitment to worship YHWH as the one and only God. Rather, it is exactly in face of alternatives and competing claims that one needs to make a firm commitment to worship YHWH.

The Challenge of Religious Pluralism: The Book of Acts as a Test Case

Poling J. Sun

Since the 80s of the last century the issue of religious pluralism has become a challenge to Christian communities. Granted the highly developed connections among nations in this electronic age resulting in conversations and mutual influences, a plurality of cultural and religious phenomena seems inevitable. This is similar to the situation in which the early Christian communities found themselves, addressing and being addressed by a world characterized by cultural inter-penetration. With this in view, this article offers a study of several passages in the Book of Acts, attempting to explore how the early Christian communities encountered their surrounding culture in the course of finding their identity and appropriating their mission.

The Church and Pluralism in the Patristic Period: A Reconsideration of the Progress of Christianization of the Roman Empire during the Time of Constantine

Nathan K. Ng

The reason for the conversion of Constantine has long been a matter of scholarly debate. Traditionally, the emperor is believed to have been converted religiously by the power of Christ. Modern scholarship, however, tends to attribute the conversion to political reason. This article intends to reevaluate the controversial conversion through a reexamination of the progress of christianization of the Roman Empire.

The first section tries to show that the political stature of paganism was actually at that time much higher than the church. It would be very difficult to explain why Constantine chose to become a Christian if, as many modern scholars suggest, political stability was his sole concern. On this foundation, the second section argues that the emperor’s bias towards Christianity was at least partially religious. Putting all evidences into consideration, a proposal of the spiritual journey of Constantine is tentatively reconstructed at the end of the discussion.

The Political Intention of the “Oracles against the Nations” in the Book of Isaiah

CHEUNG Ming Kwong

　　This article explores the formation process and purpose of the section “Oracles against the Nations” (Isaiah 13-23). The section occupied a strategic position as one of the few places in the book that references Babylon. This article argues that this series of oracles comprises two earlier collections, each serving a distinct political function in its respective period during pre-exilic time. These collections later function rhetorically to support the Babylonian oracle, which was added during the exilic or post-exilic time.

　　Within the Babylonian oracle, the mythic Helel, son of Dawn (Is 14:12), whose image is used to portray Babylon, is examined. The analysis suggests that the oracle seeks to subvert Babylonian imperial propaganda by mocking of this image. The genre of “Oracles against the Nations” survives after the fall of Judah and assumes a new political function in exilic and post-exilic contexts.

Preaching “the Baptism of Repentance”: The Spiritual Formation and Renewal of Emerging Adults through the Service of the Word

Kit-ying LAW

　　The post-pandemic crisis of worship attendance and baptismal formation in Hong Kong Chinese churches reflects a profound liturgical-theological challenge concerning how the baptized are gathered and renewed by the Word, rather than a mere institutional decline or communication breakdown. Focusing on emerging adults aged 18-29, whose lives are marked by transition, fragmentation, vocational uncertainty, digital mediation, and fluid forms of belonging, this article argues that the Service of the Word provides a critical locus for spiritual formation and ecclesial reorientation. Drawing upon William H. Willimon’s account of “peculiar speech” and preaching to the baptized, the argument contends that Christian proclamation must recover its baptismal grammar—namely repentance, death, and resurrection with Christ, the renunciation of false powers, incorporation into the church, and a renewed participation in God’s mission.

　　This proposal is situated within the theological tensions generated by the New Homiletics since the 1970s. While acknowledging the pastoral value of inductive, narrative, and listener-sensitive preaching, a critique is offered against homiletical approaches that over-accommodate proclamation to human experience, therapeutic expectations, or consumer culture. In contrast, preaching baptismal repentance functions as an inherently ecclesial act within worship rather than a generic religious address to a secular audience. It speaks directly to a community already regenerated by water and the Word, thereby summoning believers repeatedly into the identity first conferred in baptism. Such preaching does not abandon pastoral sensitivity; rather, it relocates pastoral care within the church’s primary act of hearing the Word of the Lord.

　　This argument is further developed through the resources of the liturgical movement, the lectionary tradition, and the recovery of the Psalms in worship. Within this framework, Taizé worship is understood not merely as a contemporary musical style, but also as a liturgical pattern of repetitive psalmic chant, silence, and contemplative listening that serves to support Lectio Divina and to deepen the congregation’s participation in the Service of the Word. For retreatants at Taizé, the weekly rhythm from Friday to Sunday functions as a communal mini-Triduum, moving from Christ’s passion and death to renewed participation in resurrection joy.

　　In conversation with Walter Brueggemann’s movement from orientation through disorientation to new orientation, the Psalms provide emerging adults with a disciplined liturgical speech that enables them to inhabit instability without surrendering to despair. Taizé-style prayer, responsorial psalmody, intentional silence, and communal intercession serve as concrete practices that extend the Service of the Word into the ordinary rhythms of κοινωνία.

　　Finally, contemporary preaching is interpreted within a metamodern context, wherein hearers oscillate between suspicion and longing, irony and sincerity, critique and renewed participation. Samuel Wells’s account of faithful improvisation within the drama of God’s salvation offers a constructive ecclesial imagination for communities seeking to navigate the tension between baptismal identity and eschatological fulfillment. Ultimately, preaching “the baptism of repentance” restores the embodied and formative power of the Word, forming emerging adults as servants of God’s Word through Scripture, fellowship, and sacramental memory.

The Construction of Chinese Rhetoric and the Legitimacy of Chinese Homiletics: A Preliminary Study Using the Concept of “Persuasion” as an Example

Ken K. S. LUI

　　Western homiletics has been shaped since Augustine by a paradigm integrating classical Greco-Roman rhetoric with Christian preaching. This article asks whether Chinese churches should follow this paradigm to construct a distinctively “Chinese Homiletics” (華人講道學). It first establishes Chinese rhetoric as a legitimate academic discipline, independent of Western traditions, and then focuses on a comparative analysis of the concept of “persuasion” in Chinese and Western rhetoric. Western rhetoric, typified by Aristotle, is traditionally speaker-centered, emphasizing the technical means of persuasion—logos, ethos, and pathos. The Chinese rhetorical tradition, by contrast, centers on the concept of fu (服, “compliance/conviction”), privileging xinfu (心服, “heartfelt conviction”) as the ideal rhetorical outcome, governed by the principle xiuci li qi cheng (修辭立其誠, “rhetoric grounded in virtue and truth”) and yi de fu ren (以德服人, “winning hearts through virtue”). This article concludes that Chinese Homiletics should be grounded in the preacher’s morality and spirituality rather than rhetorical technique.

“Story Is Argument”: The Use of Life Stories in William H. Willimon’s Preaching

WONG Shun Shing

　　This article examines William H. Willimon’s homiletical theology, which posits that narrative—especially life stories—serves not as mere illustration but as the primary argumentative structure in Christian preaching.

　　Amid contemporary challenges of entertainment-oriented, consumerist, and attractional preaching that often reduce the gospel to therapeutic advice, moral guidelines, or marketable spiritual products, Willimon advocates a theocentric model. Preaching, in his view, constitutes a divine theological event wherein God speaks disruptively through the peculiar and alien qualities of biblical and ecclesial narratives.

　　Drawing on narrative theology influenced by Karl Barth, Willimon maintains that Christian faith is fundamentally narrative, witnessing to God’s historical acts culminating in Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. Preaching thus performs and re-presents God’s story in the present, inviting hearers into its drama. Stories function generatively and performatively: they enact theological truth and create a new reality rather than passively reflecting or decorating pre-existing propositions.

　　This study contrasts Willimon’s approach with conventional narrative practices, which typically familiarize the gospel, emphasize individual inspiration, address felt needs, instrumentally prove abstract truths, or depend on the preacher’s charisma. Willimon instead employs estrangement to underscore the gospel’s scandalous strangeness, prioritizes communal formation, embodies truth narratively, and relies on the Holy Spirit rather than human technique.

　　Central to his method are life stories—personal, congregational, and historical testimonies—that form the core of argumentation. These function as existential witnesses, embedding individual experiences within God’s redemptive narrative, countering modern individualism, and cultivating the church’s identity as a peculiar people shaped by divine initiative.

　　Applying this framework to the Chinese church context, the article critiques prevalent tendencies toward prosperity theology, pragmatic applications, and commodified personal testimonies that domesticate the gospel’s cruciform oddity. It advocates defamiliarizing, Spirit-reliant, community-focused storytelling that honors failure, unresolved tension, and waiting as loci of grace.

　　In conclusion, Willimon reclaims preaching as a relational divine–human encounter rather than an attractional performance. By treating story as an argument, preachers participate in God’s reality-creating speech, entrusting their vulnerable words to the Holy Spirit for disciple formation and immersion in the ongoing drama of salvation.

The Threefold Forms of the Word of God: Karl Barth’s Shortcomings and Critical Revisions in Recent Barthian Theology

TSENG Shao Kai

　　This paper examines the shortcomings of Karl Barth’s doctrine of Scripture in his formulation of the “threefold forms of the Word of God” and explores recent Barthian revisions to Barth’s model. Barth borrowed this concept from the classical Reformed notion of the “triplex Logos,” yet he replaced the traditional verbum Dei essentiale or Logos hypostatikos with the “Word of God revealed.” Barth’s emphasis is thereby shifted to the narrative dimension of the verbum Dei scriptum whilst downplaying its propositional dimension. This opened an avenue to deconstructionist exegesis and inspired the so-called “postmodern” school of Barthianism. Barth himself would not have accepted this hermeneutic, and postliberal theologians like Hans Frei and George Lindbeck began to draw upon the organic connections between Barth’s notions of the Word written and the Word proclaimed to provide doctrinal-propositional norms for biblical interpretation. More recently, the postliberal Barthian theologian George Hunsinger, inspired by Frei and Lindbeck, further proposed the theory of “ecclesiastical hermeneutics,” using Barth’s notion of the “Word of God proclaimed” to supplement the shortcomings in Barth’s understanding of Scripture. Hunsinger’s ecclesiological hermeneutics is distinctively Protestant in that it presupposes a mutually reinforcing relationship between the formation of the biblical canon and the Church’s creedal orthodoxy, treating the Word proclaimed as norma normata and the written Word as the norma normans et non normata.

Reality, Interpretation, and Proclamation: The Task of Christian Semiotics according to Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana

Andrew Cheuk Kei WONG

　　Attention to homiletics is usually limited to the biblical exegetical task and sermon design. For Christian preaching to be true to its task, it requires, however, a lot more than this. This article investigates Augustine of Hippo’s understanding of preaching by focusing on De doctrina christiana (doctr. chr.), and proposes that ancient semiotics provides an excellent starting point for elucidating his conception of a preacher’s task. After demonstrating the rhetorical context of doctr. chr. and emphasizing the implicative relation between signs and things in ancient semiotics, the article presents Augustine’s understanding of the task of Christian semiotics—that preaching is the overall purpose of a process composed of the three interrelated stages of Christian theology, Christian hermeneutics, and Christian rhetoric. In each of these stages, the theme of love and the use of signs, together with the utility of adopting secular learnings for Christian purpose, recurs.

　　The article begins with the discussion that the task of Christian theology is to speak of the ineffable God through human words, made possible by the Incarnation of the Word. The semiotic principle to be introduced here is that the realities signified by signs must have been antecedently known by the interpreter. Having adopted teleological conceptions then common in ethics to support his principle of the ordering of love, Augustine demonstrates that God must be known, through love in worship, before one can comprehend the signs of the Bible. The article then turns to Christian hermeneutics. Centered on the interpretation of the ecclesiastically established set of signs that is known as the Bible, the key semiotic observation lies in the inherent ambiguity of words. Due to fluidities in the meaning of signs and the propensity of language to be elevated in religious contexts, understanding biblical signs requires the application of not only literal but also figurative interpretation, governed by the dominical commandment of the love of God and the neighbor. This semiotic analysis of doctr. chr. is completed by investigating briefly the subject of Christian rhetoric. Semiotics is related to rhetoric, in that efficacious communication depends on the listeners’ ability to comprehend the signs, their patience to remain listening, as well as their willingness to act upon what have been heard. Aided by the learning of ancient rhetoric, Augustine maintains the need of eloquence to be in the service of wisdom for Christian preaching to testify to the truth and to respond to the commandment of love. This is done by the appropriate use of rhetoric techniques to influence the listeners’ affections, so as to facilitate transformations of life.

　　This article argues that proclamation itself presupposes theological reflection, just as theology is the result of correct interpretation and effective preaching of the Bible. It concludes by proposing the advantages of bringing to the fore the distinction between signs and signified realities. Focusing on signified realities presupposes the listeners’ prior knowledge of God before they can comprehend the biblical words, while attention to verbal signs deepens our understanding of the characteristics of the verbal medium. The final analysis suggests that given Augustine’s insistence of prior knowledge of God has been matched by recent works of theology while contemporary theological investigations of the verbal medium in terms of semiotics appear to remain, by and large, in short supply, it testifies to the continued relevance of patristic theology and the great promises of semiotic investigations in contemporary theological tasks.

Preaching the Strange and Inconceivable Word of God

CHIU Shung-ming

　　Many Christians complain that church sermons sound clichéd, lack novelty, and fail to address real-life situations and specific cultural contexts. The author of this article agrees that preaching should be practical and relevant (“down-to-earth”); however, preachers must be cautious, for making sermons too “down-to-earth” not only demonstrates our attempt to shape God according to our felt needs but also risks making preaching human-centered.

　　Regarding this issue, the author argues that the secularization of the church significantly influences how audiences perceive preaching. Over time, preaching may become a tool to cater to human ideas or needs. As a result, audiences may misunderstand the purpose of preaching as serving people rather than serving the Word of God.

　　To address this problem, the author draws on the theological insights of Karl Barth and William H. Willimon to reflect on the theology of preaching. Barth and Willimon emphasize the transcendence of God. God is the Wholly Other, and there exists an infinite ontological distinction between God and humanity. Therefore, as finite beings, we cannot rely solely on our reason and sensory experience to know or speak about God. Since there is no way for humanity to reach God on its own, knowledge of God must come from God Himself. In other words, the starting point for understanding the Divine Being must be God’s self-revelation in Christ, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who comes to us from beyond ourselves and dwells within us, and by our aided reason in faith through which we seek to understand Christ, the Word of God. Consequently, for us, this Word must be the strange and inconceivable Word from above, and what preachers proclaim can only be the strange and inconceivable Word of God. This article aims to provide theological reflection on this very point.

編者的話

雷健生　鄧紹光

　　宣講是教會最古老的使命，卻也是最容易被誤解的。在消費主義文化的衝擊下，講道日漸被理解為一種溝通技術，講台的成效往往以聽眾的滿意度來衡量。本期《山道期刊》以「聖道之宣講」為主題，邀請六位學者從不同角度重新審視宣講的神學根基、詮釋原則、修辭資源，以及當代處境中的實踐方向。

　　趙崇明的〈宣講上主奇異陌生及不可思議的道〉指出，當代講道的危機根源於兩個現象：一是老生常談、千篇一律，未能帶給聽道者任何陌生感；二是「過度回應市場需要」，以聽眾感受為出發點，結果「以人為中心」取代「以上帝為中心」。作者援引巴特（Karl Barth）和路德（Martin Luther）的洞見，強調上帝之道是「從外而來的外在的道」，其陌生性和奇異性正是其轉化力量的根源。道的奇異性根植於「顯─隱」二重結構，宣講本質上是參與三一上帝的言說行動。聽眾在聽道中理應經歷的，不是熟悉感的確認，而是面對上帝話語「他性」所帶來的審判和更新。

　　黃卓基的〈現實、詮釋及宣講：從奧古斯丁《基督教教導》看基督教符號學的任務〉從奧古斯丁（Augustine）的《基督教教導》（De doctrina christiana）出發，為宣講神學提供符號學的理論框架。奧古斯丁的核心原則是：人認識符號所指涉的現實，必須先於認識符號本身。應用於宣講，這意味著傳道人必須先對上主有真實的認識，方能正確詮釋聖經符號，進而有效宣講。作者將《基督教教導》分為「神學」、「詮釋學」、「修辭學」等三部分，加以分析，顯示奧古斯丁的宣講觀以「愛」為核心――這「愛」不單是神學命題，更要求傳道人在生命中實踐愛神愛人的誡命，否則宣講便失去其根基。

　　曾劭愷的〈上帝之道的三重形式：巴特的缺失與近期巴特主義的修正〉對巴特的聖經論作出批判性評估，指出巴特過於強調聖經的敍事維度，淡化了其命題內容，為後現代解構詮釋留下空間。作者進而介紹後自由派神學家杭星格（George Hunsinger）如何在弗萊（Hans Frei）和林貝克（George Lindbeck）的基礎上，透過強調「書寫之道」與「宣講之道」的有機聯繫來修正這個缺失：大公會議的信條屬「宣講之道」，其權威源自聖經，是「被規範之規範」；聖經本身才是「具規範權威而不被規範的規範」。杭星格的貢獻在於加強聖經命題對神學解經的規範地位。這提醒傳道人講道時，既要忠於聖經敍事，也要讓教義命題框架引導解經，兩者缺一不可。

　　黃順成的〈「故事即論證」：韋利蒙講道中生命故事的運用〉聚焦於韋利蒙（William H. Willimon）的敍事講道神學。韋利蒙將故事從輔助說明的工具，提升為神學論證本身――故事不是通往真理的橋樑，而是真理得以呈現的場域。這種「演練性」的敍事觀，使講道成為上帝在當下說話的事件，而非單純的資訊傳遞。作者對比韋利蒙與一般故事運用的差異，並將其應用於華人教會的處境，批判成功神學和消費主義對講道的侵蝕――吸引式講道將故事工具化，使講道向消費主義妥協，遮蔽了福音的奇異性、聖靈的主權，以及故事應有的本體論地位。作者轉而主張以陌生化策略、群體敍事和神本見證為進路，召喚傳道人重新正視福音的轉化力量。

　　筆者雷健生的〈中國修辭學的建構與華人講道學之合理性初探──以「說服」觀念為例〉以「說服」觀念為切入點，探討華人講道學。奧古斯丁將希羅修辭學引入基督教講道學，奠定西方講道學的基本範式；本文建議華人教會效法此範式，以中國修辭學為基礎，建構本色化的華人講道學。然而，要確立這一方向的合理性，須先論證中國修辭學已具備獨立的學術地位。在「說服」觀念上，中西修辭傳統存在根本差異：西方以說話者的說服技巧為核心；中國傳統則以受眾「心悅誠服」（心服）為目標，強調「修辭立其誠」，視道德品格為說服力的根本。這一差異對華人講道學具有直接啟示：傳道人的靈命修養，遠比講道技巧更為關鍵。周聯華的著作《新編講道法》已在實踐層面作出相關嘗試，可資借鑑。

　　羅潔盈的〈宣講「悔改的浸禮」：聖道禮儀對成青的靈性塑造與更新〉針對後疫情時代香港教會的講壇危機，提出整合性的宣講與牧養回應。作者首先批判「新講道學」過度遷就聽眾經驗的傾向，繼而以韋利蒙提出的「悔改的浸禮」為核心，主張宣講必須回歸受浸群體的身分認同，而非淪為一般宗教演說。針對成青（18-29歲）四種過渡狀態，文章援引布魯格曼（Walter Brueggemann）「定向—失向—新定向」的詩篇神學，主張詩篇是成青在人生失序中向上主禱告的重要語言資源，並批評現時華人教會削減詩篇的做法。文章進而結合教會年曆經課、依納爵（Ignatius of Loyola）的「日常生活神操」及威爾斯（Samuel Wells）「五幕劇」的終末性教會想像，為成青提出一套使其能「居於上主故事中」的宣講及靈性塑造方案。

　　除專題文章外，本期亦收錄張明光的討論文章〈以賽亞書中列國神諭的政治意圖〉，論證以賽亞書十三至二十三章的列國神諭經歷了多個編輯階段：兩部早期神諭集分別在撒珥根二世和西拿基立時期塑造猶大的外交政策；被擄時期加入的巴比倫神諭，則藉其位置安排及顛覆神話意象（如「赫勒爾」），抵抗巴比倫帝國的意識形態影響。

　　本期另設五篇書評，涵蓋聖經詮釋學、約翰福音與對觀福音研究、教會論的神學類型、上帝論與創造論之關係，以及群體倫理神學，為讀者開拓宣講以外的神學視野。

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The Political Intention of the “Oracles against the Nations” in the Book of Isaiah

CHEUNG Ming Kwong

　　This article explores the formation process and purpose of the section “Oracles against the Nations” (Isaiah 13-23). The section occupied a strategic position as one of the few places in the book that references Babylon. This article argues that this series of oracles comprises two earlier collections, each serving a distinct political function in its respective period during pre-exilic time. These collections later function rhetorically to support the Babylonian oracle, which was added during the exilic or post-exilic time.

　　Within the Babylonian oracle, the mythic Helel, son of Dawn (Is 14:12), whose image is used to portray Babylon, is examined. The analysis suggests that the oracle seeks to subvert Babylonian imperial propaganda by mocking of this image. The genre of “Oracles against the Nations” survives after the fall of Judah and assumes a new political function in exilic and post-exilic contexts.

Preaching “the Baptism of Repentance”: The Spiritual Formation and Renewal of Emerging Adults through the Service of the Word

Kit-ying LAW

　　The post-pandemic crisis of worship attendance and baptismal formation in Hong Kong Chinese churches reflects a profound liturgical-theological challenge concerning how the baptized are gathered and renewed by the Word, rather than a mere institutional decline or communication breakdown. Focusing on emerging adults aged 18-29, whose lives are marked by transition, fragmentation, vocational uncertainty, digital mediation, and fluid forms of belonging, this article argues that the Service of the Word provides a critical locus for spiritual formation and ecclesial reorientation. Drawing upon William H. Willimon’s account of “peculiar speech” and preaching to the baptized, the argument contends that Christian proclamation must recover its baptismal grammar—namely repentance, death, and resurrection with Christ, the renunciation of false powers, incorporation into the church, and a renewed participation in God’s mission.

　　This proposal is situated within the theological tensions generated by the New Homiletics since the 1970s. While acknowledging the pastoral value of inductive, narrative, and listener-sensitive preaching, a critique is offered against homiletical approaches that over-accommodate proclamation to human experience, therapeutic expectations, or consumer culture. In contrast, preaching baptismal repentance functions as an inherently ecclesial act within worship rather than a generic religious address to a secular audience. It speaks directly to a community already regenerated by water and the Word, thereby summoning believers repeatedly into the identity first conferred in baptism. Such preaching does not abandon pastoral sensitivity; rather, it relocates pastoral care within the church’s primary act of hearing the Word of the Lord.

　　This argument is further developed through the resources of the liturgical movement, the lectionary tradition, and the recovery of the Psalms in worship. Within this framework, Taizé worship is understood not merely as a contemporary musical style, but also as a liturgical pattern of repetitive psalmic chant, silence, and contemplative listening that serves to support Lectio Divina and to deepen the congregation’s participation in the Service of the Word. For retreatants at Taizé, the weekly rhythm from Friday to Sunday functions as a communal mini-Triduum, moving from Christ’s passion and death to renewed participation in resurrection joy.

　　In conversation with Walter Brueggemann’s movement from orientation through disorientation to new orientation, the Psalms provide emerging adults with a disciplined liturgical speech that enables them to inhabit instability without surrendering to despair. Taizé-style prayer, responsorial psalmody, intentional silence, and communal intercession serve as concrete practices that extend the Service of the Word into the ordinary rhythms of κοινωνία.

　　Finally, contemporary preaching is interpreted within a metamodern context, wherein hearers oscillate between suspicion and longing, irony and sincerity, critique and renewed participation. Samuel Wells’s account of faithful improvisation within the drama of God’s salvation offers a constructive ecclesial imagination for communities seeking to navigate the tension between baptismal identity and eschatological fulfillment. Ultimately, preaching “the baptism of repentance” restores the embodied and formative power of the Word, forming emerging adults as servants of God’s Word through Scripture, fellowship, and sacramental memory.

The Construction of Chinese Rhetoric and the Legitimacy of Chinese Homiletics: A Preliminary Study Using the Concept of “Persuasion” as an Example

Ken K. S. LUI

　　Western homiletics has been shaped since Augustine by a paradigm integrating classical Greco-Roman rhetoric with Christian preaching. This article asks whether Chinese churches should follow this paradigm to construct a distinctively “Chinese Homiletics” (華人講道學). It first establishes Chinese rhetoric as a legitimate academic discipline, independent of Western traditions, and then focuses on a comparative analysis of the concept of “persuasion” in Chinese and Western rhetoric. Western rhetoric, typified by Aristotle, is traditionally speaker-centered, emphasizing the technical means of persuasion—logos, ethos, and pathos. The Chinese rhetorical tradition, by contrast, centers on the concept of fu (服, “compliance/conviction”), privileging xinfu (心服, “heartfelt conviction”) as the ideal rhetorical outcome, governed by the principle xiuci li qi cheng (修辭立其誠, “rhetoric grounded in virtue and truth”) and yi de fu ren (以德服人, “winning hearts through virtue”). This article concludes that Chinese Homiletics should be grounded in the preacher’s morality and spirituality rather than rhetorical technique.

“Story Is Argument”: The Use of Life Stories in William H. Willimon’s Preaching

WONG Shun Shing

　　This article examines William H. Willimon’s homiletical theology, which posits that narrative—especially life stories—serves not as mere illustration but as the primary argumentative structure in Christian preaching.

　　Amid contemporary challenges of entertainment-oriented, consumerist, and attractional preaching that often reduce the gospel to therapeutic advice, moral guidelines, or marketable spiritual products, Willimon advocates a theocentric model. Preaching, in his view, constitutes a divine theological event wherein God speaks disruptively through the peculiar and alien qualities of biblical and ecclesial narratives.

　　Drawing on narrative theology influenced by Karl Barth, Willimon maintains that Christian faith is fundamentally narrative, witnessing to God’s historical acts culminating in Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. Preaching thus performs and re-presents God’s story in the present, inviting hearers into its drama. Stories function generatively and performatively: they enact theological truth and create a new reality rather than passively reflecting or decorating pre-existing propositions.

　　This study contrasts Willimon’s approach with conventional narrative practices, which typically familiarize the gospel, emphasize individual inspiration, address felt needs, instrumentally prove abstract truths, or depend on the preacher’s charisma. Willimon instead employs estrangement to underscore the gospel’s scandalous strangeness, prioritizes communal formation, embodies truth narratively, and relies on the Holy Spirit rather than human technique.

　　Central to his method are life stories—personal, congregational, and historical testimonies—that form the core of argumentation. These function as existential witnesses, embedding individual experiences within God’s redemptive narrative, countering modern individualism, and cultivating the church’s identity as a peculiar people shaped by divine initiative.

　　Applying this framework to the Chinese church context, the article critiques prevalent tendencies toward prosperity theology, pragmatic applications, and commodified personal testimonies that domesticate the gospel’s cruciform oddity. It advocates defamiliarizing, Spirit-reliant, community-focused storytelling that honors failure, unresolved tension, and waiting as loci of grace.

　　In conclusion, Willimon reclaims preaching as a relational divine–human encounter rather than an attractional performance. By treating story as an argument, preachers participate in God’s reality-creating speech, entrusting their vulnerable words to the Holy Spirit for disciple formation and immersion in the ongoing drama of salvation.

The Threefold Forms of the Word of God: Karl Barth’s Shortcomings and Critical Revisions in Recent Barthian Theology

TSENG Shao Kai

　　This paper examines the shortcomings of Karl Barth’s doctrine of Scripture in his formulation of the “threefold forms of the Word of God” and explores recent Barthian revisions to Barth’s model. Barth borrowed this concept from the classical Reformed notion of the “triplex Logos,” yet he replaced the traditional verbum Dei essentiale or Logos hypostatikos with the “Word of God revealed.” Barth’s emphasis is thereby shifted to the narrative dimension of the verbum Dei scriptum whilst downplaying its propositional dimension. This opened an avenue to deconstructionist exegesis and inspired the so-called “postmodern” school of Barthianism. Barth himself would not have accepted this hermeneutic, and postliberal theologians like Hans Frei and George Lindbeck began to draw upon the organic connections between Barth’s notions of the Word written and the Word proclaimed to provide doctrinal-propositional norms for biblical interpretation. More recently, the postliberal Barthian theologian George Hunsinger, inspired by Frei and Lindbeck, further proposed the theory of “ecclesiastical hermeneutics,” using Barth’s notion of the “Word of God proclaimed” to supplement the shortcomings in Barth’s understanding of Scripture. Hunsinger’s ecclesiological hermeneutics is distinctively Protestant in that it presupposes a mutually reinforcing relationship between the formation of the biblical canon and the Church’s creedal orthodoxy, treating the Word proclaimed as norma normata and the written Word as the norma normans et non normata.

Reality, Interpretation, and Proclamation: The Task of Christian Semiotics according to Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana

Andrew Cheuk Kei WONG

　　Attention to homiletics is usually limited to the biblical exegetical task and sermon design. For Christian preaching to be true to its task, it requires, however, a lot more than this. This article investigates Augustine of Hippo’s understanding of preaching by focusing on De doctrina christiana (doctr. chr.), and proposes that ancient semiotics provides an excellent starting point for elucidating his conception of a preacher’s task. After demonstrating the rhetorical context of doctr. chr. and emphasizing the implicative relation between signs and things in ancient semiotics, the article presents Augustine’s understanding of the task of Christian semiotics—that preaching is the overall purpose of a process composed of the three interrelated stages of Christian theology, Christian hermeneutics, and Christian rhetoric. In each of these stages, the theme of love and the use of signs, together with the utility of adopting secular learnings for Christian purpose, recurs.

　　The article begins with the discussion that the task of Christian theology is to speak of the ineffable God through human words, made possible by the Incarnation of the Word. The semiotic principle to be introduced here is that the realities signified by signs must have been antecedently known by the interpreter. Having adopted teleological conceptions then common in ethics to support his principle of the ordering of love, Augustine demonstrates that God must be known, through love in worship, before one can comprehend the signs of the Bible. The article then turns to Christian hermeneutics. Centered on the interpretation of the ecclesiastically established set of signs that is known as the Bible, the key semiotic observation lies in the inherent ambiguity of words. Due to fluidities in the meaning of signs and the propensity of language to be elevated in religious contexts, understanding biblical signs requires the application of not only literal but also figurative interpretation, governed by the dominical commandment of the love of God and the neighbor. This semiotic analysis of doctr. chr. is completed by investigating briefly the subject of Christian rhetoric. Semiotics is related to rhetoric, in that efficacious communication depends on the listeners’ ability to comprehend the signs, their patience to remain listening, as well as their willingness to act upon what have been heard. Aided by the learning of ancient rhetoric, Augustine maintains the need of eloquence to be in the service of wisdom for Christian preaching to testify to the truth and to respond to the commandment of love. This is done by the appropriate use of rhetoric techniques to influence the listeners’ affections, so as to facilitate transformations of life.

　　This article argues that proclamation itself presupposes theological reflection, just as theology is the result of correct interpretation and effective preaching of the Bible. It concludes by proposing the advantages of bringing to the fore the distinction between signs and signified realities. Focusing on signified realities presupposes the listeners’ prior knowledge of God before they can comprehend the biblical words, while attention to verbal signs deepens our understanding of the characteristics of the verbal medium. The final analysis suggests that given Augustine’s insistence of prior knowledge of God has been matched by recent works of theology while contemporary theological investigations of the verbal medium in terms of semiotics appear to remain, by and large, in short supply, it testifies to the continued relevance of patristic theology and the great promises of semiotic investigations in contemporary theological tasks.

Preaching the Strange and Inconceivable Word of God

CHIU Shung-ming

　　Many Christians complain that church sermons sound clichéd, lack novelty, and fail to address real-life situations and specific cultural contexts. The author of this article agrees that preaching should be practical and relevant (“down-to-earth”); however, preachers must be cautious, for making sermons too “down-to-earth” not only demonstrates our attempt to shape God according to our felt needs but also risks making preaching human-centered.

　　Regarding this issue, the author argues that the secularization of the church significantly influences how audiences perceive preaching. Over time, preaching may become a tool to cater to human ideas or needs. As a result, audiences may misunderstand the purpose of preaching as serving people rather than serving the Word of God.

　　To address this problem, the author draws on the theological insights of Karl Barth and William H. Willimon to reflect on the theology of preaching. Barth and Willimon emphasize the transcendence of God. God is the Wholly Other, and there exists an infinite ontological distinction between God and humanity. Therefore, as finite beings, we cannot rely solely on our reason and sensory experience to know or speak about God. Since there is no way for humanity to reach God on its own, knowledge of God must come from God Himself. In other words, the starting point for understanding the Divine Being must be God’s self-revelation in Christ, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who comes to us from beyond ourselves and dwells within us, and by our aided reason in faith through which we seek to understand Christ, the Word of God. Consequently, for us, this Word must be the strange and inconceivable Word from above, and what preachers proclaim can only be the strange and inconceivable Word of God. This article aims to provide theological reflection on this very point.

編者的話

雷健生　鄧紹光

　　宣講是教會最古老的使命，卻也是最容易被誤解的。在消費主義文化的衝擊下，講道日漸被理解為一種溝通技術，講台的成效往往以聽眾的滿意度來衡量。本期《山道期刊》以「聖道之宣講」為主題，邀請六位學者從不同角度重新審視宣講的神學根基、詮釋原則、修辭資源，以及當代處境中的實踐方向。

　　趙崇明的〈宣講上主奇異陌生及不可思議的道〉指出，當代講道的危機根源於兩個現象：一是老生常談、千篇一律，未能帶給聽道者任何陌生感；二是「過度回應市場需要」，以聽眾感受為出發點，結果「以人為中心」取代「以上帝為中心」。作者援引巴特（Karl Barth）和路德（Martin Luther）的洞見，強調上帝之道是「從外而來的外在的道」，其陌生性和奇異性正是其轉化力量的根源。道的奇異性根植於「顯─隱」二重結構，宣講本質上是參與三一上帝的言說行動。聽眾在聽道中理應經歷的，不是熟悉感的確認，而是面對上帝話語「他性」所帶來的審判和更新。

　　黃卓基的〈現實、詮釋及宣講：從奧古斯丁《基督教教導》看基督教符號學的任務〉從奧古斯丁（Augustine）的《基督教教導》（De doctrina christiana）出發，為宣講神學提供符號學的理論框架。奧古斯丁的核心原則是：人認識符號所指涉的現實，必須先於認識符號本身。應用於宣講，這意味著傳道人必須先對上主有真實的認識，方能正確詮釋聖經符號，進而有效宣講。作者將《基督教教導》分為「神學」、「詮釋學」、「修辭學」等三部分，加以分析，顯示奧古斯丁的宣講觀以「愛」為核心――這「愛」不單是神學命題，更要求傳道人在生命中實踐愛神愛人的誡命，否則宣講便失去其根基。

　　曾劭愷的〈上帝之道的三重形式：巴特的缺失與近期巴特主義的修正〉對巴特的聖經論作出批判性評估，指出巴特過於強調聖經的敍事維度，淡化了其命題內容，為後現代解構詮釋留下空間。作者進而介紹後自由派神學家杭星格（George Hunsinger）如何在弗萊（Hans Frei）和林貝克（George Lindbeck）的基礎上，透過強調「書寫之道」與「宣講之道」的有機聯繫來修正這個缺失：大公會議的信條屬「宣講之道」，其權威源自聖經，是「被規範之規範」；聖經本身才是「具規範權威而不被規範的規範」。杭星格的貢獻在於加強聖經命題對神學解經的規範地位。這提醒傳道人講道時，既要忠於聖經敍事，也要讓教義命題框架引導解經，兩者缺一不可。

　　黃順成的〈「故事即論證」：韋利蒙講道中生命故事的運用〉聚焦於韋利蒙（William H. Willimon）的敍事講道神學。韋利蒙將故事從輔助說明的工具，提升為神學論證本身――故事不是通往真理的橋樑，而是真理得以呈現的場域。這種「演練性」的敍事觀，使講道成為上帝在當下說話的事件，而非單純的資訊傳遞。作者對比韋利蒙與一般故事運用的差異，並將其應用於華人教會的處境，批判成功神學和消費主義對講道的侵蝕――吸引式講道將故事工具化，使講道向消費主義妥協，遮蔽了福音的奇異性、聖靈的主權，以及故事應有的本體論地位。作者轉而主張以陌生化策略、群體敍事和神本見證為進路，召喚傳道人重新正視福音的轉化力量。

　　筆者雷健生的〈中國修辭學的建構與華人講道學之合理性初探──以「說服」觀念為例〉以「說服」觀念為切入點，探討華人講道學。奧古斯丁將希羅修辭學引入基督教講道學，奠定西方講道學的基本範式；本文建議華人教會效法此範式，以中國修辭學為基礎，建構本色化的華人講道學。然而，要確立這一方向的合理性，須先論證中國修辭學已具備獨立的學術地位。在「說服」觀念上，中西修辭傳統存在根本差異：西方以說話者的說服技巧為核心；中國傳統則以受眾「心悅誠服」（心服）為目標，強調「修辭立其誠」，視道德品格為說服力的根本。這一差異對華人講道學具有直接啟示：傳道人的靈命修養，遠比講道技巧更為關鍵。周聯華的著作《新編講道法》已在實踐層面作出相關嘗試，可資借鑑。

　　羅潔盈的〈宣講「悔改的浸禮」：聖道禮儀對成青的靈性塑造與更新〉針對後疫情時代香港教會的講壇危機，提出整合性的宣講與牧養回應。作者首先批判「新講道學」過度遷就聽眾經驗的傾向，繼而以韋利蒙提出的「悔改的浸禮」為核心，主張宣講必須回歸受浸群體的身分認同，而非淪為一般宗教演說。針對成青（18-29歲）四種過渡狀態，文章援引布魯格曼（Walter Brueggemann）「定向—失向—新定向」的詩篇神學，主張詩篇是成青在人生失序中向上主禱告的重要語言資源，並批評現時華人教會削減詩篇的做法。文章進而結合教會年曆經課、依納爵（Ignatius of Loyola）的「日常生活神操」及威爾斯（Samuel Wells）「五幕劇」的終末性教會想像，為成青提出一套使其能「居於上主故事中」的宣講及靈性塑造方案。

　　除專題文章外，本期亦收錄張明光的討論文章〈以賽亞書中列國神諭的政治意圖〉，論證以賽亞書十三至二十三章的列國神諭經歷了多個編輯階段：兩部早期神諭集分別在撒珥根二世和西拿基立時期塑造猶大的外交政策；被擄時期加入的巴比倫神諭，則藉其位置安排及顛覆神話意象（如「赫勒爾」），抵抗巴比倫帝國的意識形態影響。

　　本期另設五篇書評，涵蓋聖經詮釋學、約翰福音與對觀福音研究、教會論的神學類型、上帝論與創造論之關係，以及群體倫理神學，為讀者開拓宣講以外的神學視野。

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