Lectures on the History of Preaching
by John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D.

Professor in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Greenville, SC.
1879.

In this 5 Chapter work by Broadus (Baptist), he examines the history of preaching in Bible, in the early years, in the medieval and reformation, in the French and English pulpits.




CONTENTS

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LECTURE I. Specimens of Preaching in the Bible
Design of the lectures
Judah before Joseph
Moses and Joshua
Jotham
David
Solomon
The Prophets
Elijah
Amos
Jonah
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
John the Baptist
Our Lord as a Preacher
Authoritative
Relation to the common mind
Controversial
Repetitions
Variety
Use of paradox and hyperbole
Tone and spirit
The Epistles
Paul
His style
Adaptation
Christian Rhetoric

LECTURE II. Preaching in the Early Christian Centuries
First period
Second century
Informal preaching
Lay-preaching
Forgotten laborers
Not many wise
Origen
As scholar and teacher
As to allegorizing
As a preacher
Second period
Eusebius
Athanasius
Ephraem Syrus
Macarius
Asterius
Basil the Great
Gregory Nazianzen
Chrysostom
Ambrose
Augustine
General remarks, as to entrance on the ministry
As to education
A Theological Seminary
As to Christian classics
Blank after Chrysostom and Augustine

LECTURE III. Medieval and Reformation Preaching

Reasons for attention to Medieval Preaching
Peter the Hermit
St. Bernard
Dominicans and Franciscans
Antony of Padua
Thomas Aquinas
Why all in twelfth and thirteenth centuries
Tauler
Huss and Savonarola
Reformation Preaching
A revival of preaching
A revival of Biblical and expository preaching
Of controversial preaching
Of preaching upon the doctrines of grace
Contrast between Luther and Calvin
Yet both great preachers
Calvin as a commentator and a preacher
Luther as a preacher
Personality in preaching
Zwingle
Public debates
Anabaptist preachers, viz,
Hübmaier
Grebel
Menno
Use of printing to aid preaching

LECTURE IV. The Great French Preachers
Keltic eloquence
Age of Louis XIV
Prosperity of France
An age of great intellectual activity
Of elegant general literature
Excellence of the French language
Art
Catholics stimulated by the Reformed and by the Jansenists
The king’s penchant for eloquent preaching
Fashionable to admire pulpit eloquence
Low stage of the Catholic pulpit before Bossuet
Able Reformed preachers before Bossuet, viz.
Du Moulin
Faucheur
Daillé
Bossuet
Bourdaloue
Fénelon
Du Bosc
Claude
Massillon
Saurin
Decline of the French pulpit in the eighteenth century
Eloquent French preachers in the nineteenth century
Certain faults of the great French preachers
Letter from M. Bersier

LECTURE V. The English Pulpit
Five periods
Wyclif
Colet
Latimer
John Knox
Decline after the Reformation
Revival in the next century
Jeremy Taylor
Leighton
Baxter
Owen
Flavel
Bunyan
John Howe
Barrow
South
Tillotson
Threatened decline in the eighteenth century
Atterbury, Watts, Doddridge
Whitefield
Wesley
Robert Robinson
Robert Hall
Christmas Evans
William Jay
Chalmers
Recent English preachers
Expository Preachers
Importance of reading old books
Suggestions for the future, viz.
As to Physical Science and Theology
Reaction from skepticism
Humanity of Christ
Humanitarian and liberal tendencies
Freedom as to methods of preaching
Love of sensation
Genuine eloquence
Conclusion

APPENDIX

More Modules from Sermon-Creation-Delivery Category

• Dargan Art of Preaching in the Light of Its History
• Broadus, J.A. – On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons
• Broadus, A.B. – Lectures on the History of Preaching