Predigten in der Literatur

Numerous novels in literary history deal with sermons. Kim Apel's intention in this work is to make productive use of this literary and artistic approach to church sermons for practical theology. These exploratory forays into homiletics guide the reader exemplarily through the works of Karl Philipp Moritz (1756-93), an author and scholar whose literary and thought-provoking narratives on sermons are imbued with his knowledge of psychology and the philosophy of art and language. In addition to the narratives on sermons in his novels Anton Reiser and Andreas Hartknopf, the author interprets sermons which Moritz himself preached as well as other historical sermons. He concludes his study with some reflections on the literarization of the sermon as a genre in novels and the attempt to show how the literary narratives on sermons which he has interpreted can inspire modern homiletics in many ways.