The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 6: The Modern Age
Overview
This sixth volume, The Modern Age, tells the story from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall (1789–1989). During this time preaching continued to support its historic faith while the church undertook to resist secularization, come to grips with biblical criticism, and initiate bold overseas missions.
Opening with the revived Catholic Order of Preachers, Abraham Kuyper, and Friedrich Schleiermacher, Old moves on to consider John Henry Newman and Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He then carefully examines the evangelical Calvinism of New England, as well as the beginnings of black preaching and the great American school of Charles Finney, Dwight L. Moody, and Harry Emerson Fosdick. In the twentieth century Old’s focus falls on the crises of the two world wars, especially the courageous ministries of German, Dutch, and Hungarian preachers during the Third Reich.
Top Highlights
“The Thieves Who Died with Him.’ Christ did not die alone. There was the ‘coarsened” (Page 933)
“The sermon preached in Bremen is surely one of the outstanding sermons of the twentieth century.21 It is outstanding first of all because of the clarity and vision of its prophetic message, and second because it heralds the restoration of classical expository preaching as it had been exercised by the Fathers of the ancient Church and the Reformers of sixteenth-century Protestantism. No twenty-minute homily, this running commentary on the story of Jesus coming to the disciples in the storm at sea from the Gospel of Matthew must have taken a good hour.” (Page 776)
“Theologian or nontheologian, we simply did not know our Bibles. Expository preaching was beyond the capability of the average mainline Protestant minister.” (Page 580)
“Here is the ultimate preacher of American optimism, the ultimate evangelist of self-help.” (Page 572)
“Preaching is worship because it is the Word of God that is being preached.” (Page 344)
Praise for the Print Edition
Studying these volumes is like walking around a great cathedral [. . . ] every section, however distinctive, unites in a grand design whose aim is to restore preaching to its rightful place. This multivolume work is easily the best history of preaching ever written, one that will serve generations of those whose faith comes by hearing.
—William Edgar, Westminster Theological Seminary
Old has bequeathed to the church of the twenty–first century the definitive history of preaching, a spiritual feast for scholars and preachers alike for years and years to come.
—James F. Kay, Princeton Theological Seminary
Product Details
- Title: The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 6: The Modern Age
- Author: Hughes Oliphant Old
- Series: The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 2007
- Pages: 997
Reviews
1 rating
Glenn Crouch
9/22/2017
This is the 6th and largest volume in the 7 volume set, and magnificently covers the preachers of the 19th Century into the middle of the 20th Century. So included in this coverage is Victorian-age Preaching, the Great American School Preaching, Southern Baptist Preaching, War Time Preaching (on all sides), etc. Old continues to impress me with not only how he introduces to me wonderful new preachers, but finds some gems even in guys like Bultmann who I have always struggled with. In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed his coverage of the 19th Century German Preaching involving Walther et al - I have read some of the works of Walther, and I have now a better appreciation for where he and his colleagues "fit". The coverage of War Time preaching, especially those of German Preachers during the Nazi reign, was very impressive. It renewed in me a desire to get back into Barth and Bonhoeffer, and introduced me to Niemöller who I need to read more of. Whilst this volume includes one of my favourite preachers, Charles Spurgeon, it also finishes with another Lloyd-Jones. This volume, as with those previous, has been a joy to read. There is a tinge of sadness as I proceed to the final volume, since my journey in this series is coming to end.