Homiletics (Gr. homiletikos, from homilos, to assemble together), in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific department of public preaching.

It may be further defined as the science that treats of the analysis, classification, preparation, composition and delivery of sermons. The formation of such lectureships as the Lyman Beecher course at Yale University resulted in increased attention being given to homiletics, and the published volumes of this series are the best contribution to the subject.

The older literature is cited exhaustively in WG Blaikie, For the Work of the Ministry (1873); and DP Kidder, Treatise on homiletics (1864).

a critique of homiletics