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Sermon

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A religious discourse or oration delivered by a preacher, typically based on a passage from scripture, such as Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

Detailed Definition
A sermon is a form of oral teaching intended to instruct, inspire, and exhort a congregation in matters of faith and morals. It is a performative and rhetorical art form. In poetry, the structure or tone of a sermon can be adopted to lend weight and authority to the poet's words. Poets may explore the figure of the preacher, the act of listening, or the themes of a famous sermon to grapple with moral instruction, prophetic voice, and the communal experience of receiving and interpreting divine wisdom.
Example
Example in poetry:
In gospel poetry, Sermon proclaims justice: “Mount’s edge—Sermon blesses poor, peacemakers, mourners”; In Rumi’s verse, true Sermon is life: “Don’t preach love—Sermon is how you treat the beggar”; In contemporary poetry, Sermon is protest: “Mic at rally—Sermon against systemic sin”; Poets critique empty Sermons: “Smooth words—Sermon that never leaves the pulpit.”
Additional Notes
Sermons—from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”—interpret scripture for ethical living; they blend logic, story, and urgency; poets study sermons for rhetorical power, using their cadence, repetition, and moral clarity to shape verse that instructs, convicts, and consoles.
Also Known As
Khutbah (Islamic) Homily Discourse Khutbah Sutta
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