Book Reviews
“Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed.” Francis Bacon (d. 1626)
Zion’s Christian Soldiers
Stephan Sizer
Nottingham, England: InterVarsity Press, 2007.
Strategic Preaching
William E. Hull
St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2006.
Preaching and Professing
Ralph C. Wood
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009.
Reviewed by Darold Morgan, Richardson, TX.
Currently on the reviewers desk are three books recently sent to CET from three different publishers. All three are of serious value and are related primarily to pastors whose major responsibilities pertain to preaching, teaching, and planning. Wise leadership in matters of theological and ethical concepts as related to persuasive preaching is indeed endless and vital. Parenthetically, the laity would profit substantially with an acquaintance with the issues raised in these particular books.
First, let us look at the Sizer book. It is past time for pastors and laity alike to get their perspective on modern Israel and a balanced eschatology from solid biblical interpretation, rather than from a barrage of wildly successful novels and dramatically effective television preachers who march under the banner of so-called Christian Zionism! Forget, if you can, the lingering influence of J. N. Darby and his successor, the Scofield Reference Bible, and the insistence of biblical literalism. In this book we have an under-publicized paperback from the pen and heart of an English Anglican vicar. Simply stated, this is an outstanding book on this subject, answering current and volatile issues with a balanced and sensible eschatology. The book meets a real need in this confused area as Sizer gives excellent biblical responses in his approach to hot-ticketed subjects. For example, to people who are encouraging the nuclear bombing of Iran, how do you respond? Sadly, there is a peculiar quietness about these serious questions that desperately need a genuine voice of quality biblical interpretation.
In Sizer’s book one has a very helpful response to these issues. Here are well-written, interesting, and balanced insights. For to long American Christians have been mesmerized by the colorful but questionable magnetism of Christian Zionism. If you want an intelligent answer to this enigma, here it is.
The second book is Strategic Preaching by one of America’s preeminent preachers and theologians. Dr. William E. Hull has been a Professor of New Testament and a pastor of a major Baptist church in the South, closing his remarkable ministry in a university setting with major administrative responsibilities, research, and prolific writing.
Drawing from this myriad of experience, Hull has written a wise, mature, and a much needed volume on the techniques of planning pastoral preaching and exerting pastoral leadership in the local church, especially during times of radical social change and challenge.
Today many pastors and congregations are experiencing radical challenges to the church fellowship because there has been a peculiar absence of pastoral planning and guidance. This need not be. Hull’s book is brimming with solid help for the pastor and lay leadership alike. He illustrates step by step how this need can be met. The text is replete with searching and powerful illustrations from his years as pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Shreveport, Louisiana. These personal references alone make the book worth its purchase price. This book should be required reading in every seminary and theological school in the land, and certainly not just the Baptist brand alone!
The third review is for Preaching and Professing. Do not let the idea that this is a book of sermons diminish its appeal. Frankly, this is one of the finest books of sermons and addresses this reviewer has come across in many a moon! If you are among those who are discouraged about the level and substance of preaching today, get this book.
Dr. Wood is not an ordained pastor. He is a layperson who is the University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University. In his text you will find manuscripts of sermons delivered all across the nation, and some delightful ones delivered in England. One of the best sections of the book is found in his funeral eulogies. They are simply classics in this field! Here is a Baptist teacher totally at home in multiple denominational settings, sharing solid biblical exegesis, along with warm and entrancing personal experiences from his childhood in rural East Texas.
Not a dull page can be found in this nearly 300-page book. It is full of major quotations and applications from his superb grasp of both the world of literature and theology. Quotation after quotation, allusion after allusion, pour forth from these sermons which afford a world of illustrative material for any seeking pastor—all couched in fresh insights from an amazing knowledge of the Bible.
What a treasure one can discover in these pages—refreshing insights from the Bible and multiple reminders to the potential of the pulpit ministry.
