How do You Hear?

In 2001-2002, Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, funded by the Lilly Endowment, conducted an extensive study of how people listen to sermons. Researchers discussed with more than 260 lay people, in twenty-eight diverse congregations, the elements of preaching that engage or disengage congregations. Essentially the researchers approached the participants with a request: "Teach us how you listen to sermons so that we can help ministers become more effective preachers."

The study asked specific questions derived from Aristotle’s three categories of rhetoric: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos involves the listener’s perception of the preacher’s character, personality, and trustworthiness during the preaching event. Logos is concerned about the content of the sermon. Pathos involves the role of feelings stirred during the preaching.

The study and subsequent books attempted to improve the effectiveness of preaching by better understanding the hearers of sermons. The study discovered that people listen to sermons primarily through one of the three rhetorical categories. The researchers found that twenty percent of people listen to sermons primarily through the category of pathos. The listening categories of ethos and logos were evenly divided among the remaining participants, each receiving forty percent.

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Four books were published about the study: John S. McClure and others, Listening to Listeners: Homiletical Case Studies (St. Louis: Chalice, 2004); Ronald Allen, Hearing the Sermon: Relationship, Content, Feeling (St. Louis: Chalice, 2004); Mary Alice Mulligan et al., Believing in Preaching: What Listeners Hear in Sermons, (St. Louis: Chalice, 2005) and Mary Alice Mulligan, Make the Word Come Alive: Lessons from Laity (St. Louis: Chalice 2005).