ePriest.com: Your Spanish Homily

Readings

Reading I: Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59
Psalm: Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab, 16bc
Reading II:
Gospel: Matthew 10:17-22

Preaching Tip

The Curse of Knowledge: A Homily Trap for the Theologically Trained

Made to Stick is a book about how to market an idea, how to get a message to “stick”.  While it was not written for homilists, it does contain some nuggets of wisdom that can help us in our weekly mission to make the Gospel message “stick” to our parishioners.

The authors, Chip and Dan Heath, developed a concept called the “Curse of Knowledge”. This is a cognitive bias that afflicts people who are experts in their fields.

It goes like this:

It is hard for an expert to teach a novice because the expert doesn’t remember what it was like not knowing what they now know through hard work and study. An expert faced with teaching a novice doesn’t usually know where to start. And so they start somewhere in the middle, or down some rabbit hole, not understanding that they’ve already “lost” their audience.  When they do this, they are not communicating well and are falling into the “curse of knowledge.”

For Catholic priests who have advanced degrees in theology and are experts in their fields, the concept of the “curse of knowledge” is good to keep in mind.  It can mean a few things.  For example, using words like “Magisterium”, “Encyclical”, or “Hypostatic Union” and forgetting to define these words or put them in context.

It can be assuming that the faithful in the pews are somewhere further along their spiritual journey than perhaps where they actually are.  We should begin speaking to them from where the listeners in the pews are, and not always from where they should be.

To avoid the “curse of knowledge”, one solution is to have a good feedback system from people who represent different groups in the parish (i.e., youth, families, parents, professionals, retirees, etc).

The book Made to Stick proposes breaking the “curse” through “stickiness” strategies: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories (SUCCES).

In the end, awareness of this obstacle is half the battle. The effort to step into our parishioner’s shoes is also Christlike, as it reflects Christ’s ability to make himself all things to all people.