Swallowing Fire: On divine speech and presence in preaching

There is a great deal more than almost 200 years that separate the Denmark in which Soren Kierkegaard lived in the nineteenth century and the Australia we find ourselves in at the beginning of the twenty-first century. During Kierkegaard's time, Denmark experienced what could be called the "golden age" of Danish Christendom. Majestic cathedrals shaped the skyline of Copenhagen and churches were filled on Sundays with worshippers who were deeply involved in ecclesial talk and who were keen listeners to the sermons preached there. Even before Covid-19 hit Australia and the world, few churches in Australia were full and relatively few Australians enthusiastically flocked to church on Sundays to listen to a sermon.