Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century

This is an excellant book on the basics of preaching. The book came in grat shape and in two days.

As a Presbyterian minister who is always trying to improve in the pulpit, I returned once again, after a long hiatus, to this book that I had read in seminary days quite some time ago. Stott's book is filled with sage advice, wisdom from someone many of us would do well to emulate, and personal belief hammered out on the anvil of parish ministry. Seminary book stores are saturated with books on homiletics--from theory to commentary, to preaching inductively to preaching deductively, from preaching with notes to preaching narratively. This is all well and good and many of these books are by noted authors and preachers. Many of them classics also. This book however is one that has stood the test of time and comes from a noted pastor faithful over the years and recognized as being so--the book's advice is sound even though the illustrations are perhaps dated. Its timeless wisdom is what is so interesting about Stott's advice, not his clairvoyance or lack thereof. If you are wanting to improve in the pulpit in learning how not only to preach, but to perhaps preach a little better, and have read other books, then maybe this book by Stott will serve its purpose--which is to make one think a bit about being a more faithful herald of God.

John Stott is a preacher of great renown so it is both enlightening and encouraging to read about his struggles with preaching as well as the advice he gives after a lifetime in the pulpit. Throughout the book he inserted small parentheses which seem minuscule but are very helpful to the aspiring preacher. Another delight in reading Stott's book is his thorough scouring of many homiletical books of others. In reading this book, one gets the sense they are reading somewhere between 8-10 books since Stott is culling information from them. This book is a far cry from being a shot from the hip. Stott has researched his topic well. I found this book to be more than just an homiletics book but also a history book and a spiritual formation book. With the modern crisis in preaching of preachers who are ignorant of the history of preaching and more importantly impotent in their spirituality, I can hardly criticize Stott for giving more attention to these matters. Since I enjoy Church history a great deal, I was pleased to read the perspectives many of the great preachers had on the form, power and content of preaching. This bred a great deal of understanding in my own mind toward the task of preaching. I was also greatly encouraged to see the effects of God's Word as it has been preached from faithful vessels with God's glory in mind. If there is one thing I would want to communicate to others about this book it would be its emphasis on the mandatory spiritual life. From cover to cover Stott is emphatic in separating God's Word from man's word. Since the preacher is not preaching his own ideas but rather God's, it is imperative that the preacher not impede the power of the message with his own shoddy character. The preacher is first of all a man of God and secondly a receptacle and a distributor of God's Word.

I just finished this book (English edition "I Believe in Preaching") and, though I had a number of quibbles, I think this is one of Stott's most classic books. Churches throughout the world have systematically abandoned expository preaching and taken hold of secular business growth strategies. While growth in numbers may occur, the depth of faith is not there because the preaching is not from the Bible. Stott's book is a reminder that preachers should not preach what the audience wants to hear, but what they need to hear. What Stott really pushed for me was the notion that preachers should engage both the intellect and the emotion. Preaching which is merely intellectual is dry and uninteresting, no matter how true it is. Preaching which is merely emotional has little substance to it. True Expository preaching (the systematic preaching through books of the Bible, rather than topics or themes or hobbyhorses of the preacher) engages both the head and the heart, the intellect and the emotions, the ancient world (of the Bible) with the modern world of today.

This excellent resource on preaching was very fresh for me. Stott approaches it from a different angle than many do. His aim is to show that preaching must connect two worlds - the Biblical world and the modern world. The image he uses is bridge-building, and the only bridge that is successfully built, is the one with an end firmly planted on both sides of the gap it attempts to span! Thus, this book encourages not only a firm grasp of the Scriptures, but a regular perusal of the newspaper . . . not because the two are equal in authority, but because the aim of the preacher is to bring the Bible to bear on the mind of the modern man. Other very interesting things are discussed - like the history of preaching, methods of study, and how to prepare sermons. An excellent resource for preachers and pastors!