Public Seminar - Prof Marteen Kater about Sermons and Carefulness

 Hello! This tries to cover the dialog of Professor Marteen Kater as best as possible. This does not include any other dialog besides the one between Marteen Kater. Prof. Kater spoke in English and there was Indonesian translation provided. 

Prof. Marteen Kater: First of all, good evening, it is my privilege to see you here. My topic is about careful preaching is soulful preaching. As you know, every sermon has an address, because every word of God has an address. But are we actually addressed in preaching, is our soul well with it? What are we talking about when we are talking about our soul? Soul-full sermons are inspirational sermons, life giving sermons. A careful preaching is soulful preaching, which touches our souls. I am convinced that from a Reformed perspective we understand that pastoral preaching is soul care. What do we mean by "my soul"?. In general sense, it is often known as denoting our inner selves or even our consciousness. The beautiful and tricky thing about talking about the soul is that it does not easily make itself to be objectified. Attempts to do so and to get a grip on the soul causes the inspirring soul to sink in a naturalistic worldview. So in a naturalistic worldview the soul is no more than our mindset or specific apparatus that can be described in law or mechanism. What I want to share is a clarification that pastoral preaching, soulful teaching, is care for life, and the soul is an indication of what real life is. Having a soul is having a life, and soulless means no life. It says that when God gave his breath to humans, humans became living. This is pneumatological. Speaking about the soul is only  possible in connexion to God and the life giving spirit. The Old Testament shows that the soul is the life of the whole person. So soul stands for rhe whole person, him or herself, connected with his or her desires. The soul is often the desires of someone. Soul defines our humanity and expresses our whole person. My soul is my "I" and my soul hopes to God and represents ourselves. Ourselves can come into dialogue with ourselves, we can communicate with ourselves, like what is said in Psalms 42. However, my soul is not "myself" as such but "myself, my "I" in relation with God". So, the soul is not about an independent substance but about us in relation with God, out of God yet relating with Him. The soul is an indication of a special relationship between the great creation and we as his creature. The Old and New Testament is a charter of soul care. Life is not restricted to our inner being but also our outer connections. There is no inner self without the outer manifestation of our body. This is not to say that our consciousness coincides with our brain as a materialistic view that there is no survival after death. It is our body that God gives life and guidance through His Spirit. The holistic explanation in the Bible is that our expression in our heart shows our entire nature of our humanity. The heart is where decisions are made, feelings arise, and the human is shown. Intellect, reason come together in our heart, in our soul. To put it in other words, the heart is the home for our soul and the home of our soul. A soul is ourselves in relation with God. The heart and the soul is similar and the soul's communication with God is in the heart because the Holy Spirit is in the heart. If you talk about preaching, we talk about a conversation, but a conversation in preaching takes place with the soul theough the language of the soul given in the words of God's word. Soulful preaching is careful preaching, language is used that resonate in our hearts, and our souls are moved like a stringed instrument. While preaching, the Holy Spirit is touching these strings of our souls. In the western world, and I am from the western world, we have seen some decades in churches where the soul has been lost in preaching. In these churches, people only come with their bodies, not their souls. Speaking about the soul is returninf in the 21st century, even in the western world. Among the younger generation, there is a desire to speak about the inner life and the spiritual life. In the search for language to say what is inside, soul seems to be an important term. In soulful preaching, life is viewed in a spiritual perspective, and God gives life and relationship to God. Although the pastor os not a physician nor therapist, he is there to connect to connect the physical and psychological from a godly perspective. As shown in the introduction in many reformed pastoral care, it is alsays needed for the pastors to have psychological knowledge. Paul says when speaking about pneumatology that there are three important things about the soul that must be thought through in the theology of preaching which is intended to be real and soulful. Soulful preaching is not only informing your head but moving your heart. Not only information, but transformation. Now, I will speak about these three things. The first comment is that we must remember the intention of preaching and remember that the good life is living for Christ. The second comment from Paul is that the source or actor of change seen from theological perspectiv eis God himself. It is not the soul that is changed from a practice or therapy or application of a certain method. Are we willing to be saved by Godks grace and changed? The third remark in transformation is that the fulfillment of the process of change is to be awaited in a theological, eschatological perspective, which acknowledges our advantages and deficits while offering hope for the coming future. Soulful teaching makes us touched. The care of souls is care for life, life mudt be restored and sustained and affirmed. Soulful teaching is connected with the relationship to God. Careful, soulful teaching connects soul and body and can be summarized as vitality, which is about our soul. After all, Christian soulcare is about encountering Christ as the source of life. There will not be no cure or care of the soul without encountering Christ as the source. In a soulful sermon, we can hesr the sound of the Good Shepherd. The pastor is witness to and address of God's word. Preaching that is soulful and careful teaching should use the language of the soul, "heart language". Our soul has "strings" and preaching is about the words from the mouth and breath of God toyching these strings through the work of the Holy Spirit. This means we use rational, effective, and EMOTIONAL language. Soulful preaching touches us and makes us hear. Luther's language in his sermons was very affectionate and emotional. Luther uses exclamation and expressions of happiness and emotion. His preaching was soulful and careful, and the soul of the preacher resonates with the soul of the congregation. If we use ChatGPT to write a sermon, there is no resonation between the preacher and congregation. There is no life in it, no soul. Even if we tell it to use reformed language and poetic language, it will still have no life. Our soul will not be touched. 

Q&A session

Question: Please give a book reccomendation that we can use for studies about what is soul and about preaching.

Prof. Kater: There are many books. If you search up "reformed preaching" or "experential preaching", many books and articles will appear, but none of them makes a soulful teaching, because there is no standard formula. Still, tou could read books like the Institutes by Calvin, 

Question, If soul is "I" in relation with God, how do we explain the soul in other religions?

Prof. Kater: The shortest answer is in the same way. It is not hos I see my soul but how God sees what a living being is. The soul is what man is in relation to his creator even if there is no contact to his creator and himself. They (other religions) have a soul even if the soul is dead before God.

Question: How does one distinct informative sermons and life giving sermons? 

Have you ever experienced thst just gave information? 30 years ago, when I became a preacher, there was often a introduction, explanation, and conclusion/application. If we give explanation, we must give the word of God and our soul must be speaking. I think that preachers must have a great desire in his soul to move and delight, to invite to transform you.