thoughts on "Preaching by the Book"

Regardless of what you might have heard, there’s a lot more to preaching than waking up on Sunday morning, flipping open your Bible, and then talking non-stop about whatever passage you might have landed on for the next 15-75 minutes. Although I’ve been preaching for the last 10+ years, I know that there’s always room for improvement, so I was excited when I first heard about Preaching by the Book: Developing and Delivering Text-Driven Sermons by R. Scott Pace (B&H Academic, 2018)

            The Table of Contents, including sections on the foundation, framework and finishing touches sounded like just what I was looking for, so I was anxious to dive into the text. Although there are a lot of good points, I found this book to more theoretical than practical. I would have preferred a few more examples, and even though it’s published by an  Academic publishing house, I think the style is too academic for what should be a primary audience: those pastors, deacons, and members of a pulpit committee who may not have had the seminary experience, and are struggling to find a resource that will help them prepare and preach a sermon based on scripture, rather than their own opinions and a world which is increasingly antagonistic to the Gospel.

            As a member of the B&H/Lifeway blogging program, I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review.

3/5