Wat is de mens, dat Gij hem gedenkt? Een bijdrage tot een homiletische antropologie

Abstract

This article offers a contribution to the homiletical anthropology. It is an attempt to correct certain elements of the classical reformed vision, where human beings are theologically defined as sinners. About human relations, human thoughts, words and deeds, one cannot speak only in terms of sin, deficit or guilt that must be redeemed. Human experience also attests to the reality of the Kingdom of God and its righteousness. Theoretical homiletics and practical sermons have to accept this ambivalence of experience. This article wants to do justice to the multifacetted and multi-coloured character of the witnesses of Old and New Testament. - Obedience and righteousness get their places next to guilt and failure. - When preaching speaks about sin and sinners, the preacher must distinguish between perpetrators and victims. Preaching cannot and may not throw both on one heap. - The experience of evil is not only a matter of guilt. Evil can present itself also as suffering which gives rise to lament in the midst of the community of faith. - Human beings can also be surprised by unexpected joy and grace, which gives rise to songs of praise.