Hans malmström, Chalmers

Using sermon manuscripts from three different denominations in England - the Anglican Church, the Baptist Church, and the Roman-Catholic Church - and by adopting a metapragmatic discourse perspective, the main purpose of the project was to study aspects of metadiscourse in contemporary English preaching.

In the original project description, epistemic modality (primarily manifested as "hedges" and "boosters") and evidentiality (identified in text as "evidentials") were mentioned as particularly interesting aspects of sermonic metadiscourse worthy of study; not least because sermonic discourse evokes a special kind of epistemology. Progressively this rather narrow perspective was supplemented by a more holistic approach to metadiscourse because it was missing completely from the area of research (religious discourse analysis and homiletics) and because it might be considered interesting. It is also noticeable that, over time, the project assumed a marked interdisciplinary character; put simply, an interesting and productive combination of methods and theory building from linguistics and (empirical) homiletics.

The three most important results of the project
Several interesting observations made within the project are of significance for the research area. First, it is noticeable that there are very few studies within homiletics or religious discourse analysis that have an empirical basis, and it is striking how limited the theoretical exchange between these two research areas appears to have been. This becomes particularly problematic in the light of claims that our collective knowledge concerning communication in religious discourse(s) is very limited indeed (cf. Robert Wuthnow (1992, Rediscovering the Sacred: Perspectives on Religion in Contemporary Society. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co). In this respect, the project has contributed important new perspectives enabling a more appropriate characterization and understanding of a central genre of religious discourse, the sermon.

In terms of specific research results the following may be noted: (i) Metadiscourse is very prominent during preaching, and appears to have become more productive over time, suggesting that contemporary preachers are anxious to establish an explicit interpersonal relationship with their audience, e.g. by allowing listeners their own interpretative space rather than by presenting themselves authoritatively/dogmatically, i.e. thus perfectly consistent with what might be expected in a postmodern preaching context. (ii) Generally speaking, there are few significant differences between the three denominations investigated concerning preachers' metadiscursive practices; instead, any differences may be attributable to individual preaching styles. (iii) Preachers in general appear sensitive to the metadiscursive potential of preaching (however, they would not refer to it using such terms) insofar that they seem to use metadiscourse deliberately for the specific purpose of "turning" preaching to the listeners. What is missing, however, is a systematic view/conceptual approach which may serve as a foundation for a further homiletic dialogue concerning the role of metadiscourse in sermons. Perhaps the results and the conclusions from this project could help initiate such a discussion within homiletics.

New research questions and perspectives
A project of this kind, running over several years, obviously gives rise to many unanswered questions. It is beyond the scope of this report to account for but a few such issues.

Recurrent critical (but very fair) questions raised by anonymous reviewers of the project papers have focused on the recipient perspective, e.g. how sermon listeners (re)act on metadiscourse in a sermon, or when it is not there. Deliberately, the project focus has centred on preachers, their practices and their rationale regarding metadiscourse, but future (follow-up) studies would be well-advised to take into account listeners and the function of metadiscourse for them.

Preaching as a multimodal practice is another perspective missing from this project since the focus has been on text. Future studies within the area should collect sermon data which makes it possible to combine textual perspectives with the auditory and visual dimensions of preaching, thereby shedding light on the multimodality of metadiscourse.

Another important issue is the extent to which the research results are generalizable beyond the three denominations subject to the study, or outside Great Britain? Follow-up investigations concerned with aspects of metadiscourse in sermons from other denominations, preferably on the basis of preaching contexts in other countries, should provide more valuable and comprehensive information about the role of metadiscourse during preaching.

It is also interesting to speculate if the results are generalizable outside the genre, but within religious discourse, e.g. an avenue for research could be to study whether the sermon constitutes a kind of interpersonal "island" within the liturgy. Liturgical discourse is often ritual, and beyond the sermon the discourse actors are seldom given the opportunity to shape their own language. Since reaching out to an audience is central regardless of where it happens during the liturgy, it is an interesting question to what extent ritual liturgical discourse relies on metadiscourse in the same way as sermons to connect with listeners, or if other means are used.

Finally, it is an important question how the results and conclusions of the project may be of service more concretely to preaching training; this concerns the applicability of the research. Much in the same way that descriptions of conventional features of academic discourse has enabled the teaching of language for academic purposes, the descriptions emerging from this research can sustain approaches to teaching homiletics to pre-service and in-service practitioners; the question, however, is how this happens best in a discipline (homiletics) where there is a widespread scepticism to empiricism.

Internationalization
The networking done by the Project Manager within the Academy of Homiletics has generated considerable academy-internal discussion and raised questions concerning the place of descriptive data within homiletics research. Several research collaborations have also been initiated together with other members of the AoH for the purpose of studying linguistic phenomena during preaching.

Research communication outside the academic community
A popular scientific presentation of first results was given in connection with the Humanities- and Theology open house seminars (April 2013) at the Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University. In May 2014 a special seminar was arranged by the Swedish Church (Continued Training for Preachers) where results of the project were discussed with practicing preachers. This meeting has subsequently lead to access to important networks where preaching language is a central topic.

The two most important publications of the project
The two most important publications of the project are Malmström (In press a) and Malmström (Accepted). The first of these represents a synthesis of the project as a whole and clearly shows that metadiscourse is of significant communicative importance also outside those discourses where it has been subject to a lot of attention (e.g. academic discourse); this article also has a wide outreach on account of the strong standing the journal Applied Linguistics has within the applied linguistics research community.

Malmström (Accepted) is a detailed study of a specific aspect of metadiscourse, namely evidentiality (one of the original points of focus of the project) even if this is conceptualized as "intertextuality" in the article since the latter is a concept which the target audience can relate to more easily. The study could have a potentially significant impact and invite discussion since it provides an alternative, more nuanced, approach to other "voices" in sermons (several prominent scholars within homiletics have expressed critical views on citations and other explicit forms of intertextuality in sermons). The article clearly captures the interdisciplinary essence of the project and shows how preaching research could allow itself to be informed by research methods traditionally used in linguistics.

Strategy for publishing
In keeping with the intentions of the project agreement with RJ it has been an ambition to publish all articles "open access". Thanks to an extra publishing grant from RJ this was feasible and all articles are/will be freely available online. It has been a deliberate choice to publish articles in linguistics journals as well as in journals geared towards a homiletics/practical theology audience in order to maximize the project outreach and potential impact.

Contacts have been made with a selection of publishing houses to establish if there is an interest in a monograph publication with the working title: "Empirical Linguistics and Homiletics - An Unholy Marriage? A Case for Descriptive Homiletics".

Publications

Malmström, H. (Submitted). Hedging, boosting, and language appeals: exploring the metadiscourse of contemporary preaching. Homiletic

Malmström, H. (Provisionally accepted). “Church chat”, academic prose, or conversation? Investigating contemporary sermons as lexical environments. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice

Malmström, H. (Accepted). The “other” voice in preaching: Intertextual form and function in contemporary English sermonic discourse. Journal of Communication and Religion.

Malmström, H. (In press a). Engaging the congregation: the place of metadiscourse in contemporary preaching. Applied Linguistics, doi:10.1093/applin/amu052

Malmström, H. (In press b). What is your darkness? An empirical study of interrogative practices in sermonic discourse. International Journal of Practical Theology

Malmström, H. (In press c). Preaching in uncertain terms: the place of hedging language in contemporary sermonic discourse. Functions of Language

Malmström, H. (In press d) "Listen and understand what I am saying”: Church-listening as a challenge for non-native listeners of English in the UK. International Journal of Listening, DOI:10.1080/10904018.2014.880928

Malmström, H. (2013). The sermon as audience challenge? Investigating vocabulary in contemporary English preaching. Annual Papers of the Academy of Homiletics, sid. 321-333.