Darleen,
I found your response to the question rather interesting. In other words,
the difference is in organization and approach rather than content. When I
saw the question, I thought to answer it in present-day terms: homily is an
explication of the scriptures, a sermon is an exhortation or oration on some
religious theme which could be scriptural or not.
It was a pleasure visiting with you at Washington and I enjoyed the line
about WJC humbe before the Lord. I ended up going to Starbucks for Mass and
sitting on the Dupont Circle reading novels for my homily. The Lord will
forgive (I hope).
Are you going to be at Kalamazoo? I'm giving a paper on the Cistercians and
the late medieval university (what else?), building on the other papers I've
given this year. I saw on the Cluny homepage that there will be a number of
sessions on Cluny at Leeds. I wish I were going this year instead of last
but quod vult Deus.
Hope all is well.
Yours,
Thomas
At 09:14 PM 10/13/97 -0400, you wrote:
>To begin to answer this question of the difference between sermon and
>homily, you may try looking at John O'Malley's essay in _De Ore Domini_.
>In it O'Malley divides the history of preaching in two stages with the
>dividing line being around 12th/13th c. The earlier stage is characterized
>by preaching in which exegesis of the Biblical text is done line by line or
>word by word. This somewhat conversational exploration of the pericope is
>what, I think, most people refer to as 'Homily.' Sermons on the other hand
>characterize the kind of preaching done in the later period. The sermon
>uses a different organization. Rather than using the close reading of the
>text as in the homily, the sermon analyzes the Biblical theme through
>_distinctiones_ which are delineated up front for the audience. Sermons
>tend to be pretty clearly organized. Therefore, I see the major difference
>being one of organization and presentation. It just so happens there seems
>to be a chronological divide, as well.
> You may already know the volume, but perhaps it would be helpful to look
>at _De L'Homelie au Sermon. Histoire de la predication medievale_ for a
>variety of essays exploring both homelies and sermons.
> I'm looking forward to reading what other people have to say on the
>subject. I hope this helps.
>
>--Darleen
>
>
>At 11:14 AM 10/14/97 +1200, you wrote:
>> Could someone out there define for me the difference between a
>>sermon and a homily? I know that homilies were based on traditional
>>liturgical sources and usually tied to a particular day of the liturgical
>>calendar but so to were the majority of fourteenth century sermons so what
>>exactly is the difference?
>> Cheers,
>> Marcus.
>>
>>
>>
>Darleen Pryds
>Assistant Professor
>Medieval and Renaissance Studies
>Center for Interdisciplinary Studies
>Virginia Tech.
>Blacksburg, VA 24061-0227
>tel. (540) 231-7004
>"The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common
>form of its innate violence. To allow oneself... to surrender to too many
>demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone
>in everything, is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is
>cooperation in violence." --Thomas Merton
>
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