Approximately 500 B.C. Sophists are credited with inventing rhetoric (the art of persuasive speaking). They were expert debaters. They were masters at using emotional appeals, physical appearance, and clever language to "sell" their arguments. To make their points, they would quote Homer's verses. Some orators studied Homer so well that they could repeat him by heart. They would sit in their official chair and expound the text of Homer. "Homiletics" is what they were doing; expounding Homer. "Homilies" is what they were producing. "Homiletics" and "homilies" had to do with Homer. You might call it
"Homology" (the study of Homer), but I don't think they used that term.
800 years later and this practice was adopted by Christians and was "christianized." Homiletics is now explained as "a science, applying rules of rhetoric" to the Bible. Homilies are now known as "sermons." Ignorance as to origins is amusing, is it not? Much of what we practice on a weekly basis was foreign to early Christians prior to Emperor Constantine and the Catholic Church to follow in his footsteps. If you don't believe me, and you aren't so cowardly as to have your Christianity examined and turned upside down, I challenge you to purchase and read this book:
- Pagan Christianity?