Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

st be seen as a practice that helps to shape the life of a Christian community. In his extensive work on powers and preaching Campbell deals with questions of ‘the significance of the practice of preaching for the church’s ethic,’ he asks ‘how the practice of preaching informs the church’s ethical reflection and moral life,’ and he reflects that, The act of preaching plays a central role in the church’s interpretive performance of Scripture. In this role, preaching embodies an essential, distinctive performance of the story of Jesus. Specifically, preaching enacts a concrete ethical performance of Jesus’ third way — the way of active, nonviolent resistance to and engagement with the principalities and powers of the world. The preaching of the church re-enacts this ethical option at the heart of the story of Jesus.®” Then he develops the more complex reality that preaching and preachers find themselves in. Using the example of ethics of nonviolent resistance, he argues that it is nearly impossible for the practice of preaching to live up to that ethic. The pulpit itself often becomes the place of dominance and violent oppression. communion takes place only once a month even these extra prayers and fasting does not make much difference. At the same time, the Church has lost the power of communal transformation that the Eucharist may bring into the fellowship of believers. 7° McClendon, “The Practice of Community Formation,” 94. 8° Hauerwas, A Community of Character, p 93. 5 Yoder, Body Politics, Chapter 5. 82 Campbell, The Word Before the Powers, pp 79-80. 184 ... preachers have frequently used the pulpit as a way of dominating their congregations. The purpose of the sermon becomes that of winning a victory over the people in the pews. The preacher places himself or herself above the congregation and employs manipulation or threats in order to coerce people toward a certain position. Rather than helping to set people free from captivity to the powers of the Domination System, the preacher simply reinforces that system in the relationship between preacher and parishioner. And while there is no direct physical violence in such preaching, it is nevertheless preaching that occurs within a spirit of violent domination; it can involve psychological and spiritual violence and even verbal abuse. When other persons become simply instruments of the preacher’s self- aggrandizement and control, the spirit of violence is at work.®? It might be helpful to add a clarifying note. While Campbell emphasises the potential dangers of how preaching can be used, he maintains a positive view of the practice itself. In his understanding, it is the practitioner (or their church or denomination) that is in danger of falling, thus turning preaching into a dangerous tool of violence and domination. This, however, differs from my argument that preaching, being a practice, has the ability to rebel and fall, by cl