Preaching
In 1823, the brothers Guillaume and Adolphe Monod entered a junk shop in Geneva. A mysterious volume, unusually old and musty, caught their attention. When they examined it closely, the smudged ink inside resolved into letters and the letters into words. The script might have misled other men, but Guillaume and Adolphe came from a […]
On a recent trip to London, I visited the churches where John Newton, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Charles Spurgeon once preached, which prompted me to reflect on the state of preaching today. It seems to me that preaching in evangelical churches is in decline across the English-speaking world. Although there are bright spots here and there, […]
I understand evangelicals when they wonder why we can’t communicate the gospel through methods more in tune with our culture. Preaching can seem boring or too formal and hardly able to compete with the entertainment we can so easily access. This, however, is not about novelty versus tradition. There is something much deeper in this […]
Theology Is for Preaching: Biblical Foundations, Method, and PracticeEdited by Chase R. Kuhn and Paul GrimmondLexham Press, 2021416 pages (paperback), $29.99 Does theological acumen enable better reading and proclaiming of Scripture? If it does, then preaching has a theological element. A visit to an art museum with my artist mother teaches me far more than […]
When one moves beyond the few stereotypical doctrines and the solas of Reformation theology into its riches and depth, there can be many surprises and discoveries, even on points we as evangelical Protestants thought we knew and understood. A good example is the word of God as it is proclaimed, which Lutheran and Reformed traditions […]
In recent decades, the ministry of preaching has thankfully been regaining its proper place in churches. After a long period of marginalization (and, in some cases, forfeiture) by the combined forces of liberal theology and secular communication theory, there is a resurgence in the primacy and power of the preached word during the divine service.1 […]
James Eglinton, the Meldrum Lecturer of Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh, has given the church a much-needed translation of Herman Bavinck’s thoughts on preaching and of his only published sermon, “The World-Conquering Power of Faith.” Eglinton, whose dissertation, Trinity and Organism (T&T Clark, 2012), reinvigorated Bavinck studies, opens the door in this volume […]
Martin Luther is widely known as the church reformer par excellence. In just over three years, the world will celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses, marking the beginning of the Reformation. There is no doubt that such an occasion will stir up a renewed interest in the Reformer’s life, […]
In his noteworthy book Hipster Christianity, Brett McCracken describes the modern faddish approach to the Christian faith as being "more concerned with its image and presentation and ancillary appeal" than with real substance. "It assumes that mere Christianity isn't enough or isn't as important as how Christianity looks and is perceived by the outside world." […]
It is sometimes a peculiar pitfall of Reformed preaching to treat it as a mechanical process through which the Spirit of God operates, rather than as a dynamic relationship of dependence upon a divine person. John Owen once remarked that if we removed the person and work of the Holy Spirit, we may as well […]
I was once a member of a church whose senior pastor had retired. A search committee was appointed to do what was necessary to find a suitable successor. The task seemed daunting since the retiring pastor was a gifted preacher under whose ministry people of widely diverse nationality and social backgrounds had been incorporated into […]
One Lord's Day as Robert Bruce (1554-1631) ascended the elevated pulpit at St. Giles Kirk in Edinburgh, King James VI was comfortably perched in his royal gallery overlooking the congregation from the rear. The relationship between Bruce and the Stewart king, though once amicable, became strained due to Bruce's unwillingness to negotiate the truth in […]
Recovering the Message of Scripture In this special section of our "Rightly Dividing the Word" issue, are four sidebar selections from The Word of God and Preaching by Cornelis Veenhof (1902-83), a professor and pastor in the Dutch Separated Reformed Church. This text is translated by Nelson D. Kloosterman, associate pastor of Community United Reformed […]
Preaching is too intellectual. It aims at the mind but doesn't really transform the whole person. Besides, we live in a culture that disdains authorities who tell us what to believe and what to do. It gives the pretense of someone having all the answers. What we need are more conversations. The truth emerges in […]
The editors of Modern Reformation have kindly asked me to write a bit about my new book Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers (P&R, 2009). The title is a double theft. The “Why Johnny Can’t” part is stolen from Rudolph Flesch, Why Johnny Can’t Read: And What You Can Do About […]
