Kirchenbild und Predigtziel

For Protestantism, the significance of the sermon is derived from the legitimation and the function whose reasons are based on the church. The sermon is the church's fundamental manifestation of life. There is a causal connection between ecclesiology and homiletics. Ruth Conrad studies this connection between the understanding of the church and the concept of the sermon from the perspective of the history of the problem. Using examples of 19th century homiletic concepts, she reconstructs their practical-theological ecclesiological prerequisites and implications. She has selected the same 19th century concepts which shift the focus of the sermon to effective action as opposed to Schleiermacher's classification of the sermon as a representative action: those of Adam Müller, Franz Theremin, Rudolf Stier, August Vilmar, Heinrich Bassermann and Friedrich Niebergall.