The Suffering of Job and an Enfleshed Homiletic

Bearing the Body’s Witness
Using the book of Job, McLaughlin-Sheasby develops an ‘enfleshed’ homiletic, in which she argues that the capacity to speak truly of God is dependent upon the capacity to speak truly of the suffering of others.

McLaughlin-Sheasby engages with how suffering shapes theological imagination, and the impact that the traumatic wounds of others has on preaching. McLaughlin-Sheasby uses the story of Job - a man whose life has been destroyed “for no reason,” as God admits in Job 2:3 - to develop an ‘enfleshed’ homiletic, which problematizes ‘God-talk’ in the presence of radical suffering. McLaughlin-Sheasby argues that what Job needs are friends who are willing to see his wounds and bear faithful witness—but that none of them are willing to transform their theological positions in order to speak truly about Job's situation.

In Job 42:7, God affirms Job in his truth-telling, while scolding the friends for their refusal to speak truly. In this, McLaughlin-Sheasby finds a strong guiding principle for preachers: the capacity to speak truly of God is dependent upon the capacity to speak truly of the suffering of others. In other words, the degree to which preachers can faithfully speak of God in this world depends upon willingness to be confronted and transformed by the wounds of others. On this basis, McLaughlin-Sheasby proposes a theological and practical vision of preaching that is ethically responsive to those beyond the pulpit, asking the question: what does it look like for preachers to become faithful witnesses to the suffering of others?

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