Hartshorn, Leo

Rev. Dr. Leo Hartshorn is an Adjunct Professor at the Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He received his D.Min. from the Lancaster Theological Seminary and now serves as Minister of Peace and Justice with the Mennonite Mission Network of the Mennonite Church USA. Rev. Dr. Hartshorn has taught courses in homiletics and biblical interpretation, published articles on a variety of related subjects and served in pastoral ministry with various congregations over the past few decades.

Interpretation and Preaching as Communal and Dialogical Practices

2006 0-7734-5755-0
This book is a contribution to the field of homiletics, making the argument that sixteenth-century Anabaptism showed evidence of a communal and dialogical modality of biblical interpretation and preaching in its beliefs and practices. These practices included openness to affirmation and correction, a dialogical process of communal discipline, communal consensus, collaborative biblical interpretation, informal, charismatic worship, and interaction in worship and preaching. From some common themes found in early Anabaptism, a critical discrimen is created as an analytic device to examine contemporary hermeneutical and homiletical traditions with the intent of discerning which concepts might be appropriated and the limitations of such in constructing an inclusive, emancipatory (Ana)baptist homiletic of community. Suggestions are made, in a concluding appendix, for the construction of a pedagogy and guidelines for practicing such a preaching model.