Preaching

On 24 July, 1536, Conrad Cordatus heard a lecture that troubled him deeply. While commenting on the Gospel of John, the Lutheran preacher Caspar Cruciger said, “Christ alone is the meritorious cause; meanwhile, it is true, in a way, that man must be active in a manner; we must be contrite, and must...
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to...
Preaching is often described (and derided) as ‘monological discourse’. At one level this is true; but scratch beneath the surface and we quickly realise that nothing could be less true. There is something about Christian preaching that is altogether unique. Although we encounter ‘preaching’ in...
Pastor Herman Bavinck Many know Herman Bavinck as a reputable Dutch theologian, whose Reformed Dogmatics continues to shape the thoughts of theologians, pastors, and lay Christians alike. What is largely unknown is that Bavinck was also a devout and heartfelt preacher. To bridge the gap between...
I recently wasted four of five minutes of my life watching a clip of a segment of a sermon by a well known mega-church preacher. Over the past five years, this individual has reinvented his preaching style. Once a more relaxed speaker, he now effectively works the crowd over with high energy, moral...
Shortly before college I read Mortimer Adler's little classic How to Read a Book . That may sound like an odd title. After all, how could somebody read the book unless they already knew how to read? And if they did know how to read, then why would they need to read it at all? How to Read a Book...
Editor's Note: This is the final post in a four-part series on the life and relevance of Samuel Rutherford ( 1600-1661) . Find previous entries here . Rutherford as a Preacher There is no getting around the fact that Rutherford was an exceptional preacher. Historian Robert Wodrow even goes so far...
Editor's Note: This is the third post in a four-part series on the life and relevance of Samuel Rutherford ( 1600-1661) . Find previous entries here . A Ministry of Sacrifice and Suffering B eing called to the small, obscure parish of Anwoth did not give Rutherford an opportunity to take it easy...
I arrived on Faculty at Westminster in the summer of 2001. I had only been on campus for a couple of months before a group of students approached me one lunchtime and tried to recruit me to a most sinister and dangerous cult. `What?', I hear you cry, `Are the Moonies, the Children of God, and the...
Every Christian needs to understand the theology of preaching in Scripture because Christ designed every Christian to sit under sermons. Yet are there ways for all believers to participate in sermons? All Christians, and not the preacher only, should participate actively in the preparation,...