Biblical Preaching for Today’s World

James L. Heflin  |  Southwestern Journal of Theology Vol. 33 - Summer 1991

Biblical Preaching for Today’s World. By Lloyd M. Perry. Chicago: Moody Press, 1990. Rev. ed. 210 pages. Hardcover, $19.95.  

This volume is a revision of a work published in 1973, and is offered by a respected authority on preaching. Lloyd Perry is a distinguished professor of pastoral ministry at Lancaster Bible College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

“Revised” often means a few additional thoughts appended to the original. That definition does not apply to this book. It is, as the author promises, “a complete revision of the original” (p. 15). Perry’s revised volume takes into account changes in the contemporary listening audience (a change he notes in the preface to the revised edition, p. 15), and new emphases in homiletical literature.  

New material appears in almost every chapter. In the first chapter, for example, Perry expands the discussion of the biblical base for the identity of the preacher (pp. 21-29). Chapter two has new material on hermeneutics and homiletics. In chapter three Perry employs the term “propositional preaching” (p. 52) as a new outline heading and as the name of his method.  

Other new features of the book include bibliography listed at the end of each chapter and an appendix with sermon ideas from the Bible for one year.  

The new volume suffers some as a result of revision. The omission of the chapter on delivery, the deletion of some historical material, and the removal of references to some great preachers of the past weaken the new work. One wonders why, with Perry’s thorough knowledge of recent homiletical literature, he includes so little material on dialogue and narrative preaching.  

With all the new approaches to preaching method advanced for our consideration, here is a book which maintains the traditional approach to sermonizing. It is a helpful update of the original.  

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