Banalitas Salib dalam Khotbah Modern: Analisis Teologis dan Pastoral

Markus Adelbert Simanjuntak

Abstract


The cross, as the core of Christian theology, undergoes banalization in modern Indonesian sermons, reduced to an emotional rhetorical tool, a guarantee of prosperity, or an individualistic solution, thus losing its eschatological, cosmic, and communitarian dimensions. This qualitative-descriptive study analyzes 37 digital sermon transcripts (2018–2024) from urban churches in Indonesia, employing Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics and biblical theology. Findings identify three patterns of banalization: emotionalistic, individualistic, and prosperity-therapeutic, which result in a crisis of church identity, stagnation in discipleship, and prophetic failure. Recovery strategies are proposed through expository-redemptive homiletics, participatory liturgy, and social contextualization, restoring the cross as a transformative force for individuals, the church, and society. This study offers theological and pastoral contributions to revitalizing the meaning of the cross in the context of Indonesian homiletics.

 

Abstrak

Salib, sebagai inti teologi Kristen, mengalami banalitas dalam khotbah modern di Indonesia, direduksi menjadi alat retorika emosional, jaminan kemakmuran, atau solusi individualistik, sehingga kehilangan dimensi eskatologis, kosmis, dan komunitarian. Penelitian kualitatif-deskriptif ini menganalisis 37 transkrip khotbah digital (2018–2024) dari gereja urban di Indonesia, menggunakan pendekatan hermeneutika Paul Ricoeur dan teologi biblika. Temuan mengidentifikasi tiga pola banalitas: emosionalistik, individualistik, dan prosperitas-terapeutik, yang berdampak pada krisis identitas gereja, stagnasi pemuridan, dan kegagalan profetis. Strategi pemulihan diusulkan melalui homiletika ekspositori-redemptif, liturgi partisipatif, dan kontekstualisasi sosial, yang mengembalikan salib sebagai kekuatan transformasi individu, gereja, dan masyarakat. Penelitian ini menawarkan kontribusi teologis dan pastoral untuk revitalisasi makna salib dalam konteks homiletika Indonesia.

 


Keywords


Banalitas salib; homiletika; teologi salib; teologi kemakmuran; pemuridan; keadilan sosial; banalization of the cross; homiletics; theology of the cross; prosperity theology; discipleship; social justice

References


Althaus-Reid, Marcella Maria. “‘Paul Ricoeur and the Methodology of the Theology of Liberation: The Hermeneutics of J. Severino Croatto, Juan Luis Segundo and Clodovis Boff.’” University of St. Andrews, 1993. https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/2674.

Barth, Markus. Ephesians 1-3, Anchor Bible 34. Garden City, NY.: Doubleday, 1974.

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies,. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.

Bellah, Robert N., et al. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkley: University California Press, 1985.

Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. New York: Anchor Books, 1990.

Bowler, Kate. Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel. New York: Oxford University Press., 2013.

Bruce, F.F. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984.

Carson, Donald Arthur. Exegetical Fallacies, 2nd Ed. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996.

Casanova, José. Public Religions in the Modern World. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226190204.001.0001.

Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005.

Cox, Harvey. The Secular City: Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective. New York: Macmillan, 1965.

Endjala, Thomas. “‘The Distorting Power of the Prosperity Gospel,.’” The Gospel Coalition Africa,. Johannesburg, 2024. https://africa.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-distorting-power-of-the-prosperity-gospel/.

Fairclough, Norman. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992.

Fawzy, Nivine. “‘Paul Ricoeur’s Literary Hermeneutics and Biblical Exegesis,.’” Journal of the Faculty of Arts 82 (2018): 1–28. doi:https://doi.org/10.21608/jfasu.2018.71680.

Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1987.

Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Standford: Standford University Press, 1957.

Forde, Gerhard. On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, 1518. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997.

Frame, John. “‘Review of Michael Horton, Christless Christianity,.’” Frame-Poythress.Org., 2024. https://frame-poythress.org/review-of-michael-horton-christless-christianity-the-alternative-gospel-of-the-american-church/.

Gifford, Paul. Christianity, Development and Modernity in Africa. London: Hurst & Company, 2015.

Gorman, Michael J. Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001.

Hall, Douglas John. Lighten Our Darkness: Toward an Indigenous Theology of the Cross. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976.

Hoehn, Richard A., and James W. Fowler. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. Review of Religious Research. Vol. 25. San Fransisco: Harper and Row, 1983. doi:10.2307/3511314.

Horton, Michael. Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008.

Howthorne, Gerald F. Philippians, Word Biblical Commentary 43. Waco, TX.: Word Book, 1983.

Jenkins, Dave. “‘Why the Prosperity Gospel Isn’t the Gospel at All,.’” Servant of Grace. sutherlin, OR, 2025. https://servantsofgrace.org/prosperity-gospel-heresy/.

Jüngel, Eberhard. God as the Mystery of the World: On the Foundation of the Theology of the Crucified One in the Dispute between Theism and Atheism, Trans. Darrell L. Guder. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983.

Karel Himawan, et al. “‘Religion and Well-Being in Indonesia: Exploring the Role of Religion in a Society Where Being Atheist Is Not an Option,.’” Religion, Brain & Behavior 13, no. 3 (2023): 275–290.

Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu. Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013.

Lakoff, George. Don’t Think Of An Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. Science. White River Junction, VT.: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004. http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Think-Elephant-Debate-The-Progressives/dp/1931498717.

Lembaga Studi Agama dan Masyarakat. Teologi Kemakmuran Dan Pergeseran Identitas Gereja Indonesia. Jakarta: Lembaga Studi Agama dan Masyarakat, 2023.

Lose, David J. Preaching at the Crossroads: How the World—and Our Preaching—Is Changing. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013.

Mahridawati. “‘Teori Interpretasi Paul Ricoeur Dan Implikasinya Dalam Studi Al-Quran,.’” Tarbawi: Jurnal Kependidikan Dan Keislaman 8, no. 2 (2022): 115–28. doi:https://doi.org/10.26618/jtk.v8i2.7145.

Martin Luther. “Heidelberg Disputation,” Luther’s Works, Volume 31. St. Louis: Concordia, 1957.

McGrath, Alister E. Luther’s Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther’s Theological Breakthrough: Second Edition. Luther’s Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther’s Theological Breakthrough: Second Edition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2011. doi:10.1002/9781119995999.

Mezirow, Jack. Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.

Moltmann, Jürgen. The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, Trans. R.A. Wilson Dan John Bowden. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.

N. T. Wright. The Day the Revolution Began. New York: HarperOne, 2016.

Nutting, Peter West, M. M. Bakhtin, Caryl Emerson, Michael Holquist, Michail M. Bachtin, Rainer Grubel, and Sabine Reese. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. The German Quarterly. Vol. 56, 1983. doi:10.2307/405448.

Peck, and M. Scott. The Different Drum: Community-Making. Stages of Community-Making. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.

Pew Research Center. “Religion and Digital Media in Southeast Asia.” Washington D.C., 2020.

Research Live. “‘Individualism in Indonesia,.’” Jakarta, 2018. https://www.research-live.com/article/features/customising-traditions/id/5039952.

Ricoeur, Paul. Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation, Trans. Denis Savage. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.

———. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences: Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation, Ed. Dan Trans. John B. Thompson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

———. Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. Fort Worth, TX.: Christian University Press, 1976.

———. The Symbolism of Evil. Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.

Rieff, Philip. The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.

Rutlegde, Fleming. The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015.

Schrock, David. “‘A Softer Prosperity Gospel: More Common Than You Think,.’” 9Marks Journal,. Washington D.C., January 2014. https://www.9marks.org/article/journalsofter-prosperity-gospel-more-common-you-think/.

Setiawan, Johan. “‘Gereja Dan Teologi Kemakmuran Di Indonesia,.’” Jurnal Teologi Kontekstual Indonesia 2, no. 1 (2022): 55–71. doi:10.33546/jtkti.34673.

Simare-mare, Yonatan Nisi Putra. “‘Mencermati Pengaruh Teologi Kemakmuran Di Gereja Beraliran Pentakosta Karismatik,.’” Jurnal Antusias: Jurnal Teologi Dan Pelayanan 7, no. 2 (2021): 215–26.

Smith, Christian;, and Melinda Lundquist & Denton. Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Sperber, Dan and Wilson, Deirdre. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986.

Stott, John R.W. The Cross of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986.

Tajfel, Henri, and John C. Turner. “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior.” In Political Psychology, edited by William G. Hall, Nelson; Austine, 276–93. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 2019. doi:10.4324/9780203505984-16.

Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age? Philosophy, Theology and the Jesuit Tradition: “The Eye of Love.” Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2007. doi:10.5840/tiw20082511.

Tim LSAM. Laporan Tahunan Tentang Kehidupan Keagamaan Di Indonesia. Jakarta, 2023.

Timothy Keller. Preaching (Berkhotbah): Mengomunikasikan Iman Dalam Zaman Yang Skeptis, Terj. Tim Literatur Perkantas Jatim. Literatur Perkantas Jatim, 2018.

Trueman, Carl L. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. Wheaton, IL.: Crossway, 2020.

UKDW, Tim Peneliti. Analisis Konten Khotbah Di Kanal YouTube Gereja Megachurch Jabodetabek. Yogtakarta, 2024.

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1966.

Wells, David F. God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995.

Wuthnow, Robert. After Heaven: Spirituality in America Since the 1950s. Berkley: University California Press, 1998.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.46305/im.v6i2.447

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Immanuel: Jurnal Teologi dan Pendidikan Kristen

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Immanuel indexed by:

Immanuel: Jurnal Teologi dan Pendidikan Kristen
Published: Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Sumatera Utara
Website Institusi: stt-su.ac.id
Address: Jl. Sembada No. 32, Titi Rantai, Kec. Medan Baru, Kota Medan, Sumatera Utara 20131
ISSN: 2721-432X (online), 2721-6020 (print).