Handbook of Contemporary Preaching: A Wealth of Counsel for Creative and Effective Proclamation

by Michael Duduit (Editor)

Perhaps the most encyclopedic text on preaching in any language--the finest counsel from many of the acknowledged grand masters of the contemporary pulpit, including Calvin Miller, Joel Gregory, Stuart Briscoe, James Cox, Elizabeth Achtemeier, Thomas Long, James Earl Massey and many more.

608 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really is a comprehensive survey of issues related to contemporary preaching. As with any compilation of essays written by a wide variety of people, there is a range of perspectives and they are of varying value. Some of the variation of value came from their various relevance to my own situation. I liked Mohler's "The Theology of Preaching" and Paul Borden's "Expository Preaching." I found the discussion of "textual preaching" a bit too nuanced for me - I couldn't see how it differed from "expository preaching" except that it deals with a smaller piece of text. The chapter on narrative preaching by Calvin Miller was interesting, as was Bryan Chappell's discussion of different preaching models. This section helped me feel like I could explore new ways of communicating the message of a passage.

The section on "Preparing the Sermon" contained lots of details and covered the usual issues about introducing, illustrating and concluding sermons. In the section dealing with different types of Biblical material I really appreciated Elizabeth Achtemeier's chapter on preaching the Old Testament and Sidney Greidanus chapter on preaching the gospels. I didn't think much of Peter Rhea Jones chapter on Preaching the Parables. It wasn't as good as Craig Blomberg's book.

The section on Presenting the Sermon contained a helpful discussion of preaching with and without notes. Preaching and the Ministry contained an excellent chapter on Preaching and Administration by James Emery White, except that it really was about using preaching to lead the congregation rather than administration per se. Preaching to the Needs of People discussed issues of family, conflict (excellent!), the world of work, social concerns, evangelism (also excellent) and crises.

The final section on Contemporary Issues in Preaching contained a must-read chapter by William E Hull which pushed the old saying of "a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other" to its logical conclusion by challenging us to ensure that just as we work so hard to understand the historical-cultural setting in determining the author's intent, that we also study our own historical-cultural setting so we can apply the text accurately to our listeners.

All in all, although many of the chapters are starting to date a little (it is written in the early 90's), this is an excellent book for introducing you to the broad range of issues associated with preaching and will stretch you to consider or develop areas you may have neglected in the past while affirming or strengthening areas you have already practiced.

[Chris Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great resource for any preacher. It covers a wide variety of topics in the field and profession of preaching. any preacher would benefit from reading this resource.