I contend that the common experience shared by African American women preachers and the rhetorical and literary traditions from which they ad" bind them together as preachers, establishing a Womanist homiletical tradition. Womanist preaching arises from the culture and experiences of African American women preachers, yet this homiletic has applicability for all preachers who seek effective strategies for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. I have analyzed 46 sermons in manuscript form, on audio and on videotape, preached by African-American women.

My assumptions are that Womanist preaching incorporates six elements: (1) the use of personal experience/personal story In sermons (often called testimony In the African American tradition), (2) gathering everyone at the center without hierarchy or patriarchy, (3) empowerment a main sub text or goal, (4) celebrating knowing Jesus as human and divine, (5) the free and natural use of ones body when preaching, and (6) preaching among the people as an authority but not authoritarian I will seek to show how Womanist preachers use rhetorical strategies, such as sharing personal experience or "testimony" in their preaching and ways in which the Womanist preacher "gathers everyone at the center," without hierarchy or patriarchy, where there Is grace and acceptance from God.