‘Men without chests’ and preaching to the emotions

One of the hallmarks of Evangelicalism is its insistence on the necessity of conversion. But this is, of course, not unique to the Evangelical movement.

Did not the North African pioneer of Christian Latin, Tertullian, make the same point thus: ‘The soul is not born Christian; it becomes Christian’?

Conversion of the affections

Of course, the quintessential story of conversion in the Ancient Church is to be found in the writing of another African, namely, Augustine and his justly-famous Confessions. In this work, penned in the late 390s, Augustine developed an understanding of conversion as a redirection of the affections. He recalled the effect, for example, that the preaching of Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, had upon his affections: ‘I was all ears to seize upon his eloquence, I also began to sense the truth of what he said, though only gradually. … I thrilled with love and dread alike. I realised that I was far away from you … and, far off, I heard your voice saying I am the God who IS’.

In another passage of the Confessions, Augustine prayed in terms that resound with deep affection: ‘Set us on fire … stir us up and grow sweet to us’. And in one particularly powerful text, Augustine employed all of the human senses to convey the impact of conversion: ‘You called and cried aloud, and forced open my deafness. You sent forth your beams and shone, and chased away my blindness. You breathed fragrance, and I drew in my breath and now do sigh after you. I tasted, and now do hunger and thirst after you. You touched me, and I burn for your peace’.

A rich legacy

This Augustinian view of the transformation of the affections as lying at the heart of conversion has had a rich legacy down to the present day. It shaped the thinking of medieval authors like Anselm of Canterbury and Bernard of Clairvaux. It fuelled the reforming passion of pastors like John Calvin and Richard Sibbes. And it informed the preaching of those passionate thinkers about revival, Jonathan Edwards and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Now, one effect of taking such an approach to conversion is that it changes the focal point of preaching. The goal of preaching now becomes the kindling of joy and awe, reverence and love.

A disputed legacy

In the last century or so, though, there have been some who have rejected this Augustinian approach to conversion and to preaching. Not because they were liberal; in fact, far from it. Theologically conservative, they have focused their preaching on the impartation of Christian ideas and explication of doctrine. But they purposefully refuse to preach to the affections, possibly out of a fear of letting loose a wildfire of emotion.

‘Men without chests’

The result of such preaching is, I fear, what C.S. Lewis termed ‘men without chests’, that is, men and women who lack the deep-seated affections that enable them to live in accord with the doctrinal realities of the Christian faith.

Oh, that our affections would be deep and powerfully attuned to Truth. Oh, that we might have preachers like Ambrose of Milan, through whose preaching God can impact and reshape the affections of saints and sinners alike!