A Legacy of Preaching, Volume Two---Enlightenment to the Present Day: The Life, Theology, and Method of History’s Great Preachers

by Zondervan, Kevin King Sr. (Series Editor), William J. Curtis (Series Editor)

A Legacy of Preaching, Volume Two--Enlightenment to the Present Day explores the history and development of preaching through a biographical and theological examination of its most important preachers. Instead of teaching the history of preaching from the perspective of movements and eras, each contributor tells the story of a particular preacher in history, allowing these preachers from the past to come alive and instruct us through their lives, theologies, and methods of preaching. Each chapter introduces readers to a key figure in the history of preaching, followed by an analysis of the theological views that shaped their preaching, their methodology of sermon preparation and delivery, and an appraisal of the significant contributions they have made to the history of preaching. This diverse collection of familiar and lesser-known individuals provides a detailed and fascinating look at what it has meant to communicate the gospel over the past two thousand years. By looking at how the gospel has been communicated over time and across different cultures, pastors, scholars, and homiletics students can enrich their own understanding and practice of preaching for application today. Volume Two covers the period from the Enlightenment to the present day and profiles thirty-one preachers including: Volume One, available separately, covers the period from the apostles to the Puritans and profiles thirty preachers including Paul, Origen of Alexandria, Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, George Whitefield, and more.

560 pages, Hardcover

Published November 13, 2018

About the author

Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, and Editorial Vida. Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the New International Version (NIV) Bible in North America.

Reviews

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of biographical sketches of some of the most influential preachers of the last two hundred years. Each chapter runs about fifteen pages and includes four categories: historical background, theology of preaching (what he believed about preaching), methodology of preaching (how he prepared and presented his sermons), and contributions to preaching (how his preaching inmacted future preachers). Included are people like Moody, Spurgeon, MLK Jr, Billy Graham, etc.

Each chapter sketch has a different author. This has both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, there is the varrying quality one would always get in such essay collections. On the other, each contributer is an "expert" on his individual. There is more detail and knowledge presented than if a single author created the whole.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone involved in a preaching ministry. I would especially recommend it to those in seminary or those just starting out in ministry. It is very readable considering the subject matter and also balances well being both practical and inspirational.

[Josh Peglow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may have been too hard on this second volume after rating the first volume five stars. The first volume was Calvin, Luther, and Chrysostom. This volume included Falwell, Graham, and Fosdick. It wasn’t a fair fight. Still worth a read though.

[Paul Merideth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the way it's structured. I enjoyed surveying key evangelical preachers and seeing how modern scholars analyze the context, content, and cogency of past preachers.