Well, amen to that, brother Spurgeon!
In the former chapter we spoke of persuasion, both of the Sophists and of the apostle Paul. We looked at Aristotle's "means of persuasion" involving ethos, pathos, and logos. We dealt with ethos, how it was promoted and taught by Sophists, and how it was viewed by the apostle Paul as a part of speech (logos). In this posting we will look at pathos as regards speech and of its place in biblical speech. Having already defined pathos, let us consider the role of emotions in discourse, both in the speaker and in the hearer.
Spurgeon said:
"To win a soul, it is necessary, not only to instruct our hearer, and make him know the truth, but to impress him so that he may feel it. A purely didactic ministry, which should always appeal to the understanding, and should leave the emotions untouched, would certainly be a limping ministry. “The legs of the lame are not equal,” says Solomon; and the unequal legs of some ministries cripple them. We have seen such an one limping about with a long doctrinal leg, but a very short emotional leg. It is a horrible thing for a man to be so doctrinal that he can speak coolly of the doom of the wicked, so that, if he does not actually praise God for it, it costs him no anguish of heart to think of the ruin of millions of our race. This is horrible!
I hate to hear the terrors of the Lord proclaimed by men whose hard visages, harsh tones, and unfeeling spirit betray a sort of doctrinal desiccation: all the milk of human kindness is dried out of them. Having no feeling himself, such a preacher creates none, and the people sit and listen while he keeps to dry, lifeless statements, until they come to value him for being “sound”, and they themselves come to be sound, too; and I need not add, sound asleep also, or what life they have is spent in sniffing out heresy, and making earnest men offenders for a word. Into this spirit may we never be baptized!""
"A sinner has a heart as well as a head; a sinner has emotions as well as thoughts; and we must appeal to both. A sinner will never be converted until his emotions are stirred. Unless he feels sorrow for sin, and unless he has some measure of joy in the reception of the Word, you cannot have much hope of him. The Truth must soak into the soul, and dye it with its own colour. The Word must be like a strong wind sweeping through the whole heart, and swaying the whole man, even as a field of ripening corn waves in the summer breeze. Religion without emotion is religion without life." ("What Is It to Win a Soul?" in The Soul Winner)
The Lord wants people to control their emotions, to not be ruled by them, and to this extent the Stoics were correct. Intellect should rule emotions and not vise versa. But, it is not always the case in human experience. Humans are creatures of emotions, as we will see further. Also, oftentimes emotions provoke thought.
Stoics so downplayed the role of emotion in life and decision making that the term "stoical" has come to mean "without emotion," like is seen in the character "Spock" in the "Star Trek" series who being Vulcan, purely logical, suppressed all expressions of emotion. The Stoic idea of suffering without emotion, without complaint, to simply "grin and bear it," or "keep a stiff upper lip," has some truth in it, though it is an extreme, and not healthy or wise. To ask people not to express their emotions in times of suffering is going too far. Venting our feelings is a built in defense mechanism to help us endure suffering. Sharing feelings is often therapeutic, within limits of course.
Pathos In Jesus's Preaching
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Matt. 23: 37)
It is interesting how many times English translators put exclamation marks on many of the utterances of Christ, the prophets, apostles, and evangelists whose words are in scripture. Though there are no such punctuation in the Greek new testament, yet translators add them to express the emotion and passion in what is said, and this is true with the exclamation mark. If the mark is absent in the Greek text, how then do translators and readers know when it is appropriate? Is it not because the very words and contexts manifest emotion and passion themselves?
Examining the reactions of various hearers and audiences who heard the prophets, Christ, and the apostles and other evangelists and teachers of the word of God, one can see how the word of God when spoken or written has produced lots of emotional reactions, such as fear and trembling, anger and wrath, joy and happiness.
Who cannot see the passion in the words of Christ uttered above? "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem"! "You were not willing"! "How often I wanted"! We can also see the passion in the "woe" sayings of the Lord. Such pleading! In the bible this is often called "praying" or "beseeching."
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." II Cor. 5: 20)
Other words denoting praying and beseeching word be exhorting, pleading, imploring, etc. They also imply earnest and sincere appeals to the mind and emotion. Another instance of the pathos of Christ may be seen in these words:
"Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him." (Luke 11: 52-54)
Notice the first exclamation mark. But, others could have been added after each of the statements, such as "you have taken away the key of knowledge"! "You have not entered yourselves"! "You have hindered people from coming"! He appealed both to their hearts and minds, to their thoughts and emotions. But, so too did Christ's opponents for they "urged" him "vehemently," with intense emotion (wrong kind), and to "provoke," or to "incite" feelings. Christ sought to excite the right thoughts and emotions, unlike his sophisticated ranters.
Paul's Emotional Appeals (pathos)
Passion in the preaching of the prophets, Christ, the apostles, etc., is hard to notice since we are limited in not being able to hear the sound of their voices, having no audio recordings, and are therefore not able to hear the inflection of the voices, the tone, the emotion attached to the words of their discourses. Nor do we have videos enabling us to see their facial expressions. All we have are their words read on paper or orally heard read. Yet, their choice of words, the hortatory exhortations they give, and the rhetorical questions they ask, emanate passion. Let us notice these examples of Paul's ethos and pathos as a speaker.
“For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.” (Phil. 3:18 ESV)
That was truly preaching with emotion and passion. Said Paul again:
“Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.” (Acts 20:31 ESV)
But, not only did Paul show passion in preaching with tears, but he also showed forcefulness and strong voice and intense emotion in his argumentation.
"For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ." (Acts 18: 28)
"Mightily" is from the Greek word "eutonos" and means forcibly and vehemently, and the idea of intense emotion and passion is necessarily involved. Paul asked the Corinthians:
"What will you? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?" (I Cor. 4: 21)
There is pathos of all kinds in these words. They show how Paul was not always in the same mood when preaching, his mood being determined by the time, circumstance, and the audience. He could preach with a "rod" of correction, which could also be translated as "branch" or "switch," which is something that most unruly children got from their parents till modernism took over family government. In either case the idea is a discourse that would whip the hearers, would correct them, would rebuke and chastise them. But, it must be done from the purest of motives. Who can doubt that when a verbal whipping is being given that it is from a passionate address of the speaker? A passion that will be observable through both verbal and non verbal cues? Gill in his commentary says that such speaking involves roughness and severe looks.
Notice also how the apostle puts coming (for the purpose of speaking) "with a switch" in opposition to coming "in love" and in "the spirit of meekness." Did he not speak in love even when speaking as with a rod of correction, beating them? Yes, but not if one judges it by the sound or tone, or by a worldly standard. It does indicate that coming with the rod involves coming with some righteous anger and hatred for serious wrongdoing. It certainly is set opposite to coming "in the spirit of meekness," in gentleness and with great care.
In "Preaching must be passionate and engaging" under "10 Essentials of Preaching" (here) we have some very good observations on this topic (emphasis mine).
"Solid preaching is not monotone or monochromatic. It goes beyond reading the Bible out loud, and it goes beyond reading dryly from a manuscript."
"This requires changing vocal patterns (tone of voice, volume, and pace, etc.), making eye contact, and using one’s body (facial expressions, hand gestures, maneuvering around the pulpit) as a means of communication—just as the preacher would in interactions in daily life."
Adrian Rogers was excellent in all these areas. Every pastor would do well to listen to his sermons as they are a good example of preaching with ethos, pathos, and logos.
The author continued:
"Further, to be passionate in preaching requires a man to believe in what he is preaching. As D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it in his landmark lectures titled Preaching and Preachers, the preacher is not serving merely as an advocate, but as a witness! He is not merely reciting facts about God and His Word. Rather, he is testifying to the power of the great God revealed in the Word. Lloyd-Jones would say elsewhere in his Preaching and Preachers lectures that preaching is “theology on fire” — a useful phrase and image that speaks to the passion which must undergird and flow out of any sound preaching. Solid preaching is both passionate and engaging."
Yes, theology on fire! Passion and fire in preaching! If the fire is in us as it was in the prophet Jeremiah, then we would show it in our discourses. Think of the preaching of John the Baptist! He was a strong voice preaching in the wilderness, "crying aloud" to sinners to "repent and believe the gospel for the kingdom of God is at hand."
Another good article on pathos in discourse comes from "Place of Pathos in Preaching - The critical importance of emotion in preaching" (here) by Jeffrey Arthurs. He writes (emphasis mine):
"Pathos means "feeling or emotion" (Conley 317). When used in discussions of persuasion, it is "all those materials and devices calculated to put the audience in a frame of mind suitable for the reception of the speaker's ideas" (Thonssen and Baird 358). Pathos deserves a central place in homiletical theorizing and practice—a higher place than it currently receives."
"This paper does not pit pathos against logos. I believe that preaching must include a strong cognitive element, or else it is not preaching. Without a dominant idea derived from a biblical text, supplemented with other ideas, a sermon is merely "sound and fury signifying nothing.""
"However, while preaching cannot be less than the communication of a biblical idea, it should be more. De Quincey compared the two arts of rhetoric, logos and pathos, to rudder and sail. The first guides discourse and the second powers it (Thonssen and Baird 358). Even a traditionalist like John Broadus argued that preachers need "the capacity for clear thinking, with strong feelings, and a vigorous imagination" to produce "forcible utterance" (in McDill 10)."
"An entire paper devoted to pathos may raise red flags since emotional appeal is the stuff of demagogues, so let me extend my disclaimer to say that no ethical communicator uses pathos to induce an audience to act contrary to reason. That is manipulation, not persuasion."
All these statements on pathos in discourse are excellent. Good Christian speakers, preachers, laymen, parents, etc., will make sure of their substance and argument (logos) but they should also speak with passion and with the heart in it.
The author continued:
"Ethical (and effective) communicators use pathos to prompt people to act in accord with the truth. This paper is not a plea to discount or circumvent logos."
"Neither is it a plea to bypass the role of the Holy Spirit in preaching. It is an argument that the Holy Spirit converts and sanctifies the whole person, not just the mind, and the Holy Spirit appeals to the mind and emotions to move the will."
These are good observations. The author asked - "Why does pathos deserve a central place in preaching?" I think we can answer that question easily after seeing pathos in the words of Christ and his apostles. The author answers saying "Pathos influences decision making."
The author continued:
"The old dichotomy between logic and emotion, the head and the heart, does not reflect how humans actually make decisions. As rhetorical scholar Roderick Hart argues, "To contrast people's 'logical' versus 'emotional' tendencies is to separate human features that should not be separated in analysis since they cannot be separated in fact. When people react to anything[they] react with all of themselves" (121-122). Arnold and Wilson state simply that "people do not reason or feel, they reason because they feel, they feel because they think they have reason" (318). The dichotomy between pathos and logos may be useful in the academy, but in the marketplace the two cannot be separated."
Again, this is so true. Logos without pathos is not our example.
Said the author further:
"Even if we allow the dichotomy to stand, we find that pathos influences the will more than logos. This was Cicero's observation: "Mankind makes far more determinations through hatred, or love, or desire, or anger, or grief, or joy, or hope, or fear, or error, or some other affection of mind, than from regard for truth, or any settled maxim, or principle of right" (in Thonssen and Baird 360)."
"C. S. Lewis states, "People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts" (in Martindale and Root 482). Dozens of communication theories support this contention."
"The argument so far may sound like an advertising handbook: "Just discover the hidden needs of your listeners, present your product so that it seems to fill those needs, and make sure you bypass rationality in the process." As I stated in the opening apology, many persuaders use pathos unethically. I place advertisers high on that list. But the fact that they manipulate with emotion does not mean that preachers should jettison it."
"Pathos is primary in human decision making because God made us to respond to emotional appeals, and he himself uses pathos. He motivates us through awe of his immensity, fear of his holiness, confidence of his goodness, and joy of his grace. Pathos is crucial, not incidental, to God's communication."
Primacy should be given to logos, but it must not be alone. It must be passionate. Said the author further:
"As Robinson says, "Some passages are alive with hope, some warn, some create a sense of joy, some flash with anger at injustice, others surge with triumph. A true expository sermon should create in the listener the mood it produced in the reader. The task of the poet, the playwright, the artist, the prophet, and the preacher overlap at this point—to make people feel and see "(82-83). From the earnest pleading of Charles Spurgeon, to the pastoral warmth of Jack Hayford, to the exuberance of E. V. Hill, effective preachers represent God—his ideas and emotions. When preachers use pathos (and logos and ethos), they handle the Word skillfully."
Oh so true! Just as we are told to sing "with feeling," so too should we preach and testify. Think of all the warnings given in scripture. Who can picture the giver of the warnings being casual in speech? Would there not be some urgency? Do preachers not "sound the alarm" in their preaching? Said the author:
"Unfortunately, most of our training equips us to exegete and communicate the ideas of the text, not the feelings."
Agreed. Impassioned stale speech moves very few. It you have exciting news to tell, should your enthusiasm and passion not be manifested? Said the author further:
"Simply by keeping in mind that the text aims to create an experience, not just transmit an idea, preachers should be able to identify the dominant mood of the passage."
Oh, so true! Think of all the passion and emotion in the utterances in the Psalms! Said the author:
"When preachers genuinely feel the mood(s) of the text, the audience will notice and may respond. Rhetorician and preacher Hugh Blair said, "The only effectual method [of moving the listeners' emotions] is to be moved yourself. There is an obvious contagion among the passions" (Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, in Thonssen and Baird 364)."
Good observation! Jesus, the prophets, apostles, etc., spoke with emotion in their discoursing. They were passionate about what they were teaching and proclaiming. "Effective heralds, said the author, "demonstrate that the truth has gripped them and that it should grip the listeners. Effective heralds embody the text." He also said "we must speak naturally, not fearing to reveal our feelings in public."
No comments:
Post a Comment