Southern Baptist Preaching Yesterday. Compiled by R. Earl Allen and Joel Gregory. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991. 607 pages. Paper, $12.95.  

Following up on their earlier volume, Southern Baptist Preaching Today, the late R. Earl Allen and Joel C. Gregory offer a glimpse into Southern Baptists’ heritage of preaching. They provide a brief biography and a sermon from sixty preachers. Allen and Gregory also report each man’s method of sermon preparation, when it could be determined. They were much helped in this last respect by H. C. Brown, Jr., Southern Baptist Preaching (1959) and More Southern Baptist Preaching (1963).  

Allen and Gregory include early leaders of the SBCfl. P. Boyce, John A. Broadus, and Richard Fuller) as well as many of the bestknown Southern Baptist pastors of this century. Baptist seminary professors and denominational leaders are also included.  

The sermons reflect the range of Baptist interests and preaching styles across the last century. George W. Truett’s “Baptists and Religious Liberty” trumpets Baptists’ concern for freedom of the soul; L. R. Scarborough’s “The Tears of Jesus” conveys Baptists’ concern for salvation of the soul. Stylistically, R. G. Lee’s alliterated topical sermon is contrasted with the simple expository message of A. T. Robertson.  

Most of the messages have been previously published, but the compilers have done a service in making them readily available once again. They have also served readers well by including the sermon preparation methodologies. This is a welcomed sermon sampler and introduction to Baptist heritage rolled into one. Contemporary preachers could learn a thing or two by listening to these stalwarts of the Baptist pulpit.