Kaspar Renner

• In this chapter, the author argues that Herder’s theory of sympathy is informed by his educational practices as a teacher and preacher in Riga (1764 to 1769). In his Riga sermons, Herder develops a model of sympathy that transforms classical rhetorics insofar as it describes the sermon as a mutual interaction between preacher and congregation, thus emphasizing the decisive role of the listening public. This model is informed not only by Herder’s theological, but also by his anthropological and aesthetic reflections in the Riga constellation: Sermon and service are conceptualized as the ideal sphere of observing the ‘modus operandi’ of human feeling and cognition—and of cultivating it at the same time. Within the overarching framework of sympathy, the preacher has to develop specific techniques of “pathos” to activate the senses of his audience and particular ways of empathy to understand its feelings. Most explicitly, Herder develops this model of preaching in his farewell-sermon from Riga in 1769. At the same time, this sermon showsIn this chapter, the author argues that Herder’s theory of sympathy is informed by his educational practices as a teacher and preacher in Riga (1764 to 1769). In his Riga sermons, Herder develops a model of sympathy that transforms classical rhetorics insofar as it describes the sermon as a mutual interaction between preacher and congregation, thus emphasizing the decisive role of the listening public. This model is informed not only by Herder’s theological, but also by his anthropological and aesthetic reflections in the Riga constellation: Sermon and service are conceptualized as the ideal sphere of observing the ‘modus operandi’ of human feeling and cognition—and of cultivating it at the same time. Within the overarching framework of sympathy, the preacher has to develop specific techniques of “pathos” to activate the senses of his audience and particular ways of empathy to understand its feelings. Most explicitly, Herder develops this model of preaching in his farewell-sermon from Riga in 1769. At the same time, this sermon shows that homiletics are embedded within the specific social and cultural milieus that Herder encounters in German and Latvian congregations in Riga. Last but not least, his farewell-sermon is a medium to defend himself and his concept of preaching against antipathy-driven attacks from local Orthodox-Lutheran clergy.…