A Light for Revelation to the Gentiles: Preaching the Old Testament in the United Church of Canada

grantor: Emmanuel CollegeThis is a thesis about the preaching of the Old Testament in The United Church of Canada. In the course of this thesis the topic is explored through the researcher's experience and theology and the theological tradition of the church, both the Christian church generally and The United Church of Canada specifically. A particular research methodology is used in order to explore the experience of a preacher and parishioners in an action in ministry. The resulting data is thoroughly analyzed and then the thesis concludes by drawing all of these things together into some statements about future implications and possibilities. After a discussion of the title of the thesis, its scriptural structure and the terminology to be used, the thesis begins with the researcher's experience that the Old Testament is not being preached very regularly in the United Church. What then follows is her own experience, context and theology around why, in her perception, this is a problem for the church. The thesis discusses the history of what the Christian church has said about the Old Testament in order to discover whether this lack of preaching is a problem in the perception of the church. Some very specific work is done around the place of the Old Testament in The United Church of Canada, detailing the official documents which are both historical and current in the denomination. The design and implementation of the action in ministry which is to further explore this topic, is based on the question, “What is the experience of a suburban United Church preacher and his parishioners when the Old Testament lectionary texts (year A) are preached during Epiphany?” In terms of the research methodology employed in the process of the action in ministry, qualitative research is the general category with phenomenology chosen as the specific methodology which best suits the context and characteristics of the project. The thesis details the action in ministry, both in terms of what was intended and what actually happened. The data which emerges from the action in ministry is then analyzed in-depth according to five main themes. Each of the five chapters of the thesis draws some conclusions according to the subject matter of the chapter and the final and concluding chapter brings all of these together in a way which both summarizes what has been said and points to some general and very specific future directions for the preaching of the Old Testament in The United Church of Canada.D.Min