The genre of the Sermon

The difference genre makes

Here the defeat of Sicera is described in two different genres, the first a historical narrative . . .

^14b “So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.¹⁵ The LORD confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.”

(Judges 4:14b-16 HNV)

Now the equivalent from a poetic song . . .

²⁰ “From the sky the stars fought.
From their courses, they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The river Kishon swept them away,
that ancient river, the river Kishon.
My soul, march on with strength.”

(Judges 5:20-21 HNV)

Introduction

The genre of a text describes the kind of literary work it represents and can tell us something about the situation in which it was intended to be used (its sitz im leben or setting in life). For example:

a genealogy would be used in courtrooms to determine hereditary rights;
a historical record would be used in scholastic or governance settings to learn from the actions or decisions of former generations;
a legal code would be used in court, to administer justice;
a poem would be used in private study for reflection;
a news report would be used in administrative settings to keep people informed;
a liturgy is use in religious settings to remind worshipers of the tenants of their faith.

A text’s genre can tell us a lot about how we should interpret that text. For example, a poem about an event would be interpreted quite differently to a historical account of that event.

Whilst genre is usually discussed with reference to written material it can apply to any type of creative endeavour, thus the concept also applies to art, music and even oration.

Generic hybrid genre

Some life events give rise to easily recognised and relatively simple genre, e.g. consider how providing for your heirs results in the genre known as a Last Will and Testament, holding a bank account gives rise tothe genre of bank statement, or how a marriage results in the genre of wedding photo album. Both tend to be instantly recognisable documents and their contents usually have recognisable features that aid their interpretation (e.g. the signatures of witnesses, income and expenditure columns, or the central focus on the bride and groom). However, some settings in life will consistently give rise to speeches or texts which fuse traits from various genres. Such creations have attracted the name “generic hybrid.” The election campaign speech is a classic example of such a generic hybrid. It’s setting in life is the periodic election process and its aim is to ensure that the candidate gets elected. However, to do so it must routinely address a range of tasks. It must encourage existing supporters to work for the goal, set out the benefits of doing so, discourage waverers from defecting, expose the weaknesses of the opposition’s case, sell the benefits of the the candidates party (or the candidate themselves), keep the audience engaged long enough to hear the speaker out, and contain memorable statements that people will continue to think about. To achieve this it must bring together elements from assorted genre, such as rhetorical argument, humor, criticism and exhortation.

The genre of the Sermon as a whole

If you view the Sermon as a coherent discourse then it should have a single setting and an overall genre. Yest, even if you side with those who see the Sermon as a collection of sayings, then it remains valid to ask the question, for the gospel’s editor may well have imposed a specific genre upon their redacted speech in order to progress their story.

As a whole, it is clear that the Sermon is a speech delivered to a group of supporters. However, is it possible to be more specific as to the type of oration this was? In taking a scriptural passage and expounding upon it, it lives up to the title that Augustine bestowed upon it, for it does indeed resemble a sermon, or more specifically rabbinical preaching (whose distinctive signature is found in the Golden Rule). However, behind its sermonesque façade, Jesus’ words have shades of another distinctive genre, the campaign rally speech. Like such an address they include:

encouragement to existing supporters for their faithfulness (the beatitudes);
reiteration of the party’s stance, i.e. the centrality of God’s wisdom (salt, light and law);
illustrations of the need for change and anticipation of its outcome (teaching on the last five commandments);
encouragement not to be distracted or to waver from the cause (concluding remarks);
embedded allusions to the party’s core themes (allusions to the way of righteousness).

A rallying speech is just the sort of genre that one might expect to find Jesus resorting to at the outset of his Galilean ministry. Nor would he be the last preacher to interpret scripture in a manner that exhibited such political overtones.

The political aspect of the Sermon is apparent in the language some scholars use to describe its elements. For example, Vermes (2004, 311-2) sees the Beatitudes a “manifesto for the seekers of the kingdom” and in a sense he is quite right to do so, for embodied within them is God’s promise of the difference that returning to the way of righteousness makes. Thus the Beatitudes were every bit as political as Mandela envisaging a South Africa without apartheid or Ghandi envisaging an India free from British domination.

The genre of the individual sayings

If one believes a later editor has composed the Sermon from a range of sayings, each dragged from their original context, it becomes particularly pertinent to assess the genre of each in turn. However, even if the Sermon was delivered as a single entity, the extensive re-use of its sayings within parallel passages suggests that many of them effectively stand alone and therefore also have a genre in their own right.

Geza Vermes, as part of his form-critical assessment of the authenticity of Jesus’ sayings, has undertaken an assessment of the genre of each saying found within the Synoptic Gospels. The following is a summary of his conclusions, as far as they concern the Sermon (Vermes 2004, 419-436):

Narratives and commands, not represented;
Controversy stories, not represented;
Words of wisdom, seventeen, of which Vermes identifies three as editorial and suspends judgement on two;
Teaching in parables, two, both being considered editorial;
Quoting or interpreting scripture, eight, of which two are considered editorial;
Prayers and related instructions, three, all considered genuine;
‘Son of Man’ sayings, one, considered editorial;
Sayings about the Kingdom, three, of which one is considered editorial;
Eschatological rules of behaviour, ten, of which one is considered editorial.

Vermes provides further detail on this assessment, but from the summary above, it is clear that he considers the bulk of the Sermon’s sayings to be words of wisdom, interpretations of scripture and eschatological rules of behaviour.

References

Vermes, Geza. 2004. The Authentic Gospel of Jesus. London: Penguin.