Preaching in Multicultural Contexts

Dear Colleagues,

Since the Special Issue, “Multicultural Worship: Theory and Practice,” was published this year both as an e-book (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/Multicultural_Practice) and in print, the editorial board of Religions has extended their invitation to a second volume on a related topic. While the first volume aimed to develop theories and practices of worship relevant to various multicultural situations, this second volume will focus on preaching in multicultural contexts. We live in an unprecedented globalized multicultural world, and Christian churches are challenged by a consciousness of the significant impact multicultural phenomena have on their ministries. Particularly, the Christian pulpit can no longer ignore the changing cultural context, and preachers are challenged to rethink the nature and function of preaching in our multicultural world.

This Special Issue’s purpose is to respond to these challenges by providing new homiletical paradigms that are culturally sensitive, theologically appropriate, and rhetorically effective in a multicultural context for preaching. It aims to help homiletic scholars and preachers evaluate their current theories and practices of preaching from a multicultural perspective and explore new methods of preaching that can contribute to the renewal of our complex multicultural world.

This Special Issue deals with culture broadly, including racial and ethnic cultures, intergenerational cultures, technology and digital cultures, and religious and spiritual cultures, and explores this through interdisciplinary studies with various social sciences, arts, and biblical and theological studies. Each article engages in deep theological and homiletical conversation, focusing on the following questions: What is the relationship between preaching and culture? What are the theological, ethical, and homiletical issues emerging from our multicultural context of preaching, especially from the author’s particular cultural context? What are new homiletical approaches, ideas, and methods appropriate to preach good news in relation to these issues?

Thus, the scope of research for this topic has three areas: (1) the theology of preaching, (2) hermeneutics for preaching, and (3) communication methods for preaching from a multicultural point of view. We invite you to write an article focusing on at least one of these areas.

There are a few resources available to study preaching in multicultural contexts. For example, Matthew D. Kim’s Preaching with Cultural Intelligence: Understanding the People Who Hear Our Sermons (Baker Academic, 2017) explores how preaching can be prepared for diverse listeners in denomination, ethnicity, gender, location, and religion. One of the chapters of Joseph R. Jeter, Jr. and Ronald J. Allen’s book, One Gospel, Many Ears: Preaching for Different Listeners in the Congregation (Chalice Press, 2002), also deals with preaching in multicultural settings. While these are helpful as conversation starters, the articles in this volume are expected to broaden and deepen research on preaching in multicultural contexts by proposing new homiletical paradigms with diverse theological, biblical, and rhetorical approaches to preaching.

We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue as an invaluable resource for teaching and learning about preaching in our globalized, multicultural world. 

Prof. Dr. Eunjoo Mary Kim
Dr. Namjoong Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• culture
• preaching
• homiletics
• multiculturalism
• globalization
• pluralism