Thesis (D. Min.)--Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, 2020.
Phyllis Tickle has instructively noted that "about every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at that time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur." It has been five-hundred years since the last major shift in the universal Christian church and now, five-hundred years later, the church is undergoing another shift that, in part, is instigated by the digital revolution. Simultaneously, a new generation of potential church attendees have matured into adulthood and their very presence--or lack thereof--demands that the way that they digest sermonic content, or reject it, be examined. This dissertation addresses the question of what are the most effective paradigms of sermonic communication for Black millennials. Homileticians have attempted to understand the patterns of reception for various demographics and define the most meaningful strategies for speaking to each generation, often privileging one sermonic method over another. I argue that the relationship between millennials and hip hop music and culture signals the need for another shift in the way sermonic content is communicated. I conclude with a discussion of homiletical strategies that may be effective to employ in order to attract the attention of the millennial generation.
