Calvin’s Preaching. By T.H.L. Parker. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992.202 pages. Paper, $22.99.  

This book grew out of Parker’s role as editor of Isaiah 30-41 for Supplementa Calviniana, Calvin’s manuscript sermons. He includes and rearranges some material from his earlier work, The Oracles of God (1947), but this volume is more extensive, incorporating new materials and giving new insights into Calvin the preacher.  

The five-part treatment begins with the theological impulse for Calvin’s preaching, then proceeds to the relationship between the message of Scripture and the sermon (Part One), the responsibility of the preacher and congregation toward the message preached (Part Two), the story of the preaching, recording, and transmission of Calvin’s sermons (Part Three), the manner in which Calvin handled his sermon material (Part Four), and the form and style of his sermons (Part Five). All material is based on thorough research and is written in a readable style.  

Parker demonstrates that Calvin’s reform was borne along by his preaching and that his theology was inseparable from his preaching. The book is good history, yet suggestive of practical means by which contemporary preachers may improve preaching. He has made a great contribution to the study of Calvin and to preaching in general.