Calvin's Preaching

T.H.L. Parker has produced an outstanding contribution to the realm of Calvin scholarship as well as homiletics with his CALVIN'S PREACHING. The work explores multiple aspects of Calvin's theology and practice of preaching. The importance of preaching for the ministry and theology of Calvin is clear in this work, a long neglected yet vital aspect of Calvin's career as a Reformer and theologian.Of particular intrigue to modern theologians and preachers is Calvin's view of preaching. The preacher is the mouthpiece of God, according to Calvin. This is a stunning claim for a contemporary Church where preaching is quickly finding itself replaced by cultural forms adopted from art, entertainment, and commerce. For Calvin, preaching is irreplaceable in the life and health of Christians and the Church.Of particular insight for those interested in modern conflicts over the nature and authority of Scripture is the seamless relationship between the Word of God as Holy Sc! ripture and the Word of God as Preaching. Calvin, like Luther before him, held a sacramental view of preaching as the Word of God that has been lost in consequential Protestantism, a factor Parker attributes to Zwingli and other Protestants afterward who separated The Bible and Preaching as the Word of God, thus diminishing the latter and so doing injustice to the former. Likewise, both Calvin and Luther envisioned preaching as a verbal and audible event rather than a written manuscript. Consequently, neither wrote their sermons out before preaching them, unthinkable for many modern homileticians.While Parker's description of the manuscripts of Calvin's sermon transcripts is somewhat tedious, his excellent erudition and the power of the subject matter itself make this work invaluable for the library of any preacher and theologian who is interested is remaining faithful to the Reformation heritage today. CALVIN'S PREACHING forces the contemporary preacher to give pause ! and reconsider the reason and role for preaching today. Wer! e Calvin's view of preaching recovered in the Church today, the possibility of transformation and renewal for preaching, the Church, and even society are unfathomable.