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Papers by Marianne Gaarden

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Theology and Qualitative Research, 2022

The attention of this chapter is directed towards qualitative research into the preaching event. ... more The attention of this chapter is directed towards qualitative research into the preaching event. Like other fields in pastoral theology, homiletics has experienced an empirical turn in the last five to six decades gaining knowledge into the preaching event. This is an international development and part of a wider practical approach to theology. By integrating new methodologies adopted from the social sciences, homiletics has gained new insight into the listeners’ experiences of and response to the preaching event from the perspective of the pew, as well as insight into the preachers’ intentions and experiences from the perspective of the pulpit. These new empirical insights have helped to nuance and correct the traditional understanding of preaching as well as contemporary homiletical theory.

The Third Room of Preaching. A New Empirical Approach, 2021

How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Ma... more How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Marianne Gaarden draws on sociological, psychological, and other empirical research to offer new perspectives and presents the notion of the Third Room of Preaching, the place where the preacher’s words and the listener’s prior experiences come together and new meaning emerges. The new research insights challenge conventional understandings of preaching and invite homileticians to reflect theologically on the implications for the sermon as an act of communication. In addition, the book includes an appendix that offers new perspectives on how to best educate and train preachers in light of that research.

Empiriske undersøgelser viser, at både menighed og præster forstår forkyndelsen som personbåret.D... more Empiriske undersøgelser viser, at både menighed og præster forstår forkyndelsen som personbåret.Dette udfordrer en teologisk sondring mellem præstens person og funktion, hvor Gud forståes somprædikenens agens. I stedet foreslår jeg, at prædikantens rolle er som en samtalepartner, der via sinegen interaktion med teksten, inviterer tilhørerne til en subjektiv meningsskabende proces, somprædikanten ikke er herre over.

Formålet med denne artikkelen er å bidra til diskusjonen om hva persondimensjonen betyr forpreste... more Formålet med denne artikkelen er å bidra til diskusjonen om hva persondimensjonen betyr forprestens virke, og å drøfte mulige konsekvenser for utformingen av presterollen i en nordisk folke-kirkekontekst i vår samtid. På bakgrunn av egne tidligere empiriske studier av (1) menighetens øns -ke om en autentisk prest, (2) prestens spiritualitet og (3) prestens forståelse av embetet som kallfinner vi et felles område rundt sammensmeltningen av prestens person og funksjon,som vi mener erviktig for forståelsen av en presterolle i endring. Hvis en teologi om prestens tjeneste skal kunneromme samtidas erfaring av persondimensjonens betydning, er det ikke tilstrekkelig å gripe tilbaketil en teologi om embetet, som ikke er meningsfull i vår tid. Heller ikke er det tilstrekkelig medpragmatiske tiltak som ikke tar høyde for prestetjenestens usynlige arbeid og åndelige dimensjon.Derfor problematiser vi både den praktiskeog den ideologiskenedtoningen av persondimensjonensbetydning for prestetjenes...

What Really Matters: Scandinavian Perspectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography , 2018

One of the major challenges in working with ecclesiology and ethnography is that theology already... more One of the major challenges in working with ecclesiology and ethnography is that theology already has an integrated world view. It points to the crucial question of how we can get behind our own preconceptions in our theological research. In my experience, one of the answers is the method—derived from the Greek words μετά ‎(metá) “after” and ὁδός ‎(hodós) “way or journey”. A new method is like a way which can take us into foreign landscapes offering new insights from new perspectives. Thus, new methods can lead to new perspectives, which has been the case in my research. Without being aware of the consequences I chose a methodology which paved the way for new perspectives challenging the normative dimension in mainstream theology.

In my paper I will present the notion of the Third Room which can bring new perspectives in under... more In my paper I will present the notion of the Third Room which can bring new perspectives in understanding how listeners create meaning when hearing the sermon. It is the result of an empirical research utilizes qualitative interviews. The encounter between the listeners' experience and the preachers' words facilitates a third room in which the listeners, in internal dialogue, create a surplus of meaning that was previously not present in either the preacher's intent or the listener's frame of reference. Thus the semantic meaning is not embedded only in the words that the preacher speaks but is emerging in the situation. The preacher cannot control the production of meaning, but the production of meaning is activated by the preacher which can look like a paradox. I will argue, however, that this emerging life within preaching can be considered both as a premise, a relief and a promise.

This paper is addressing the theme “Preaching and Inspiration: Drawing on Other Religious Traditi... more This paper is addressing the theme “Preaching and Inspiration: Drawing on Other Religious
Traditions” from an untraditional perspective. As a citizen in a country with a quite homogenous
population – until now – the Otherness in preaching is coming primarily from listeners often
unfamiliar with the religious tradition in the Lutheran church of Denmark. In this paper I will
briefly present the result of my Ph.D. dissertation, an empirical analysis of how churchgoers listen
to sermon situated in the worship and how preachers theologically understand the preaching event.
The results indicate what at first glance seems to be a dichotomy between empirical finding and
theological understanding of preaching. By redefining the premises of the theological thinking,
however, I argue for a third way to approach preaching in which there is a lot of inspiration – and
room for Otherness.

Books by Marianne Gaarden

Learning Together To Preach, 2023

Preaching is best learned and improved when preachers receive excellent, supportive reflection on... more Preaching is best learned and improved when preachers receive excellent, supportive reflection on their lived experiences and sermons. For nearly ten years at Vanderbilt Divinity School a group of scholars and practicing preachers joined together to develop and hone several models of peer-group and individual coaching. In this book, they describe the key dimensions of "collaborative coaching," a learner-centered approach to coaching that emphasizes covenant-building, deep spiritual curiosity, care-filled listening, ethical awareness, attention to bodies and places, parallel learning, careful sermon analysis, and the art of asking excellent questions. In the final section of the book, practitioners provide examples of this kind of coaching in practice.

Prædiken som det tredje rum - E-bog, 2021

Menigheden ved søndagsgudstjenesten hører ikke en prædiken, der er identisk med den, præsten har ... more Menigheden ved søndagsgudstjenesten hører ikke en prædiken, der er identisk med den, præsten har sat sig for at holde. Det er efterhånden gammel retorisk viden. Ikke desto mindre er teorien om, at meningen gemmer sig i det papir, prædikenen er skrevet på – og derfra blot venter på at blive overført til tilhørerne – sejlivet i praksis.
I Prædikenen som det tredje rum gør forfatteren ikke alene op med den forestilling, men angiver også en retning for en homiletisk kommunikationsteori, der kan sættes i stedet. Hendes bidrag til homiletikken er baseret på egne empiriske undersøgelser af, hvordan prædikenen opleves af menigheden (og af præsten), kombineret med nyeste kommunikationsteoretiske og homiletiske forskning.
Prædikenen som det tredje rum giver som den første bog på dansk en indføring i empirisk teologi og præsenterer efterfølgende (i bogens anden del) resultaterne af forfatterens empiriske undersøgelser af, hvordan kirkegængere lytter, når de hører evangeliet forkyndt i en prædiken.

The Third Room of Preaching: A New Empirical Approach, 2021

How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Ma... more How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Marianne Gaarden draws on sociological, psychological, and other empirical research to offer new perspectives and presents the notion of the Third Room of Preaching, the place where the preacher’s words and the listener’s prior experiences come together and new meaning emerges. The new research insights challenge conventional understandings of preaching and invite homileticians to reflect theologically on the implications for the sermon as an act of communication. In addition, the book includes an appendix that offers new perspectives on how to best educate and train preachers in light of that research.

Church of Sweden Research Series/Vol 19

How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Ma... more How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Marianne Gaarden draws on sociological, psychological, and other empirical research to offer new perspectives and presents the notion of the Third Room of Preaching, the place where the preacher’s words and the listener’s prior experiences come together. Gaarden’s insights challenge conventional understandings of preaching and invite homileticians to reflect on the implications for the sermon as an act of communication.

The book includes an appendix that helps to facilitate the Third Room model in homiletics classes. Click here to read the table of contents and introduction: https://mailchi.mp/wjkbooks/spic6h0onk-1136717?e=acf00a6074

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Theology and Qualitative Research, 2022

The attention of this chapter is directed towards qualitative research into the preaching event. ... more The attention of this chapter is directed towards qualitative research into the preaching event. Like other fields in pastoral theology, homiletics has experienced an empirical turn in the last five to six decades gaining knowledge into the preaching event. This is an international development and part of a wider practical approach to theology. By integrating new methodologies adopted from the social sciences, homiletics has gained new insight into the listeners’ experiences of and response to the preaching event from the perspective of the pew, as well as insight into the preachers’ intentions and experiences from the perspective of the pulpit. These new empirical insights have helped to nuance and correct the traditional understanding of preaching as well as contemporary homiletical theory.

The Third Room of Preaching. A New Empirical Approach, 2021

How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Ma... more How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Marianne Gaarden draws on sociological, psychological, and other empirical research to offer new perspectives and presents the notion of the Third Room of Preaching, the place where the preacher’s words and the listener’s prior experiences come together and new meaning emerges. The new research insights challenge conventional understandings of preaching and invite homileticians to reflect theologically on the implications for the sermon as an act of communication. In addition, the book includes an appendix that offers new perspectives on how to best educate and train preachers in light of that research.

Empiriske undersøgelser viser, at både menighed og præster forstår forkyndelsen som personbåret.D... more Empiriske undersøgelser viser, at både menighed og præster forstår forkyndelsen som personbåret.Dette udfordrer en teologisk sondring mellem præstens person og funktion, hvor Gud forståes somprædikenens agens. I stedet foreslår jeg, at prædikantens rolle er som en samtalepartner, der via sinegen interaktion med teksten, inviterer tilhørerne til en subjektiv meningsskabende proces, somprædikanten ikke er herre over.

Formålet med denne artikkelen er å bidra til diskusjonen om hva persondimensjonen betyr forpreste... more Formålet med denne artikkelen er å bidra til diskusjonen om hva persondimensjonen betyr forprestens virke, og å drøfte mulige konsekvenser for utformingen av presterollen i en nordisk folke-kirkekontekst i vår samtid. På bakgrunn av egne tidligere empiriske studier av (1) menighetens øns -ke om en autentisk prest, (2) prestens spiritualitet og (3) prestens forståelse av embetet som kallfinner vi et felles område rundt sammensmeltningen av prestens person og funksjon,som vi mener erviktig for forståelsen av en presterolle i endring. Hvis en teologi om prestens tjeneste skal kunneromme samtidas erfaring av persondimensjonens betydning, er det ikke tilstrekkelig å gripe tilbaketil en teologi om embetet, som ikke er meningsfull i vår tid. Heller ikke er det tilstrekkelig medpragmatiske tiltak som ikke tar høyde for prestetjenestens usynlige arbeid og åndelige dimensjon.Derfor problematiser vi både den praktiskeog den ideologiskenedtoningen av persondimensjonensbetydning for prestetjenes...

What Really Matters: Scandinavian Perspectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography , 2018

One of the major challenges in working with ecclesiology and ethnography is that theology already... more One of the major challenges in working with ecclesiology and ethnography is that theology already has an integrated world view. It points to the crucial question of how we can get behind our own preconceptions in our theological research. In my experience, one of the answers is the method—derived from the Greek words μετά ‎(metá) “after” and ὁδός ‎(hodós) “way or journey”. A new method is like a way which can take us into foreign landscapes offering new insights from new perspectives. Thus, new methods can lead to new perspectives, which has been the case in my research. Without being aware of the consequences I chose a methodology which paved the way for new perspectives challenging the normative dimension in mainstream theology.

In my paper I will present the notion of the Third Room which can bring new perspectives in under... more In my paper I will present the notion of the Third Room which can bring new perspectives in understanding how listeners create meaning when hearing the sermon. It is the result of an empirical research utilizes qualitative interviews. The encounter between the listeners' experience and the preachers' words facilitates a third room in which the listeners, in internal dialogue, create a surplus of meaning that was previously not present in either the preacher's intent or the listener's frame of reference. Thus the semantic meaning is not embedded only in the words that the preacher speaks but is emerging in the situation. The preacher cannot control the production of meaning, but the production of meaning is activated by the preacher which can look like a paradox. I will argue, however, that this emerging life within preaching can be considered both as a premise, a relief and a promise.

This paper is addressing the theme “Preaching and Inspiration: Drawing on Other Religious Traditi... more This paper is addressing the theme “Preaching and Inspiration: Drawing on Other Religious
Traditions” from an untraditional perspective. As a citizen in a country with a quite homogenous
population – until now – the Otherness in preaching is coming primarily from listeners often
unfamiliar with the religious tradition in the Lutheran church of Denmark. In this paper I will
briefly present the result of my Ph.D. dissertation, an empirical analysis of how churchgoers listen
to sermon situated in the worship and how preachers theologically understand the preaching event.
The results indicate what at first glance seems to be a dichotomy between empirical finding and
theological understanding of preaching. By redefining the premises of the theological thinking,
however, I argue for a third way to approach preaching in which there is a lot of inspiration – and
room for Otherness.

Learning Together To Preach, 2023

Preaching is best learned and improved when preachers receive excellent, supportive reflection on... more Preaching is best learned and improved when preachers receive excellent, supportive reflection on their lived experiences and sermons. For nearly ten years at Vanderbilt Divinity School a group of scholars and practicing preachers joined together to develop and hone several models of peer-group and individual coaching. In this book, they describe the key dimensions of "collaborative coaching," a learner-centered approach to coaching that emphasizes covenant-building, deep spiritual curiosity, care-filled listening, ethical awareness, attention to bodies and places, parallel learning, careful sermon analysis, and the art of asking excellent questions. In the final section of the book, practitioners provide examples of this kind of coaching in practice.

Prædiken som det tredje rum - E-bog, 2021

Menigheden ved søndagsgudstjenesten hører ikke en prædiken, der er identisk med den, præsten har ... more Menigheden ved søndagsgudstjenesten hører ikke en prædiken, der er identisk med den, præsten har sat sig for at holde. Det er efterhånden gammel retorisk viden. Ikke desto mindre er teorien om, at meningen gemmer sig i det papir, prædikenen er skrevet på – og derfra blot venter på at blive overført til tilhørerne – sejlivet i praksis.
I Prædikenen som det tredje rum gør forfatteren ikke alene op med den forestilling, men angiver også en retning for en homiletisk kommunikationsteori, der kan sættes i stedet. Hendes bidrag til homiletikken er baseret på egne empiriske undersøgelser af, hvordan prædikenen opleves af menigheden (og af præsten), kombineret med nyeste kommunikationsteoretiske og homiletiske forskning.
Prædikenen som det tredje rum giver som den første bog på dansk en indføring i empirisk teologi og præsenterer efterfølgende (i bogens anden del) resultaterne af forfatterens empiriske undersøgelser af, hvordan kirkegængere lytter, når de hører evangeliet forkyndt i en prædiken.

The Third Room of Preaching: A New Empirical Approach, 2021

How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Ma... more How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Marianne Gaarden draws on sociological, psychological, and other empirical research to offer new perspectives and presents the notion of the Third Room of Preaching, the place where the preacher’s words and the listener’s prior experiences come together and new meaning emerges. The new research insights challenge conventional understandings of preaching and invite homileticians to reflect theologically on the implications for the sermon as an act of communication. In addition, the book includes an appendix that offers new perspectives on how to best educate and train preachers in light of that research.

Church of Sweden Research Series/Vol 19

How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Ma... more How do listeners create meaning when hearing a sermon? In this cutting-edge homiletical study, Marianne Gaarden draws on sociological, psychological, and other empirical research to offer new perspectives and presents the notion of the Third Room of Preaching, the place where the preacher’s words and the listener’s prior experiences come together. Gaarden’s insights challenge conventional understandings of preaching and invite homileticians to reflect on the implications for the sermon as an act of communication.

The book includes an appendix that helps to facilitate the Third Room model in homiletics classes. Click here to read the table of contents and introduction: https://mailchi.mp/wjkbooks/spic6h0onk-1136717?e=acf00a6074