From a friend:

‘I think one reason to hold back a little on going full-throttle about [including biblical scholarship in preaching] (apart from boring people to sobs) is Fowler’s stages of faith development… it’s not always pastorally helpful to all the “stage 2 and 3” people in the congregation to ramble on about higher criticism. (This is where good story-telling works well on so many levels). On the other side of the coin, an increasingly well-educated population is going to need “smarter” church than is on offer in many places.’

More on Fowler – http://jmm.org.au/articles/2219.htm