'The Reading And Preaching Of The Scriptures In The Worship Of The Christian Church: Vol 4, The Age Of The Reformation' Review
Those who have been tracking the series have awaited Volume 4 on the Reformation with great eagerness, given the Reformed proclivities of the author. We are not disappointed in his characterization of the seismic changes which took place in preaching with the Reformation. Daily preaching took the place of the daily mass. He properly emphasizes that Luther and Calvin's theology of the Word gave rise to the highest view of the criticality of preaching. Nor is Zwingli neglected with his strong addiction to lectio continua. Curiously the English Reformation is limited to Hugh Latimer and John Hooper, when in fact a firmament of at least a dozen worthies deserves attention in a study of this scope. The attention given to The Prayer Book Lectionary is at once a bonus and delight but the mix of preaching and the liturgical is occasionally frustrating.
Advertisement
Old disappoints us with his definitions of sermonic form. For him all proclamation of Scripture is expository; hence Jesus is expository and Spurgeon was a great expositor. Many would incline toward a more classic definition of exposition as in John Broadus or Haddon Robinson. He is allergic to eschatology (millennialism is "eccentric") and speaks only pejoratively of pietism. I wonder what he will do with Bengel, Spener, Francke and Zinzendorf. His extensive and very learned section on the Roman Catholic preaching of the Counter-Reformation runs to 92 pages but then most curiously his sketchy treatment of Puritan preaching runs to only 68 pages. He does not seem to see that the Puritan sermon was an inverted pyramid with minimal exposure of the text. (Thomas Shepard, first president of Harvard, preached four years on the parable of the Ten Virgins.) This is the first really great disappointment in the basic space allocation, which is always a most vexed and vulnerable point in any history of preaching.
I can guarantee that any reader will find treasures as I have on every page that Olds has written. Notwithstanding my caveats, I delight in these volumes. The rumor is that the fourth entry into the field will soon be in hand. O.C. Edwards, Jr., long at Seabury-Western (Episcopal) in Evanston, IL (now retired) will soon heave into sight with his much?awaited history of preaching. His 43-page entry on "The History of Preaching" in Willimon/Lisher Concise Encyclopedia of Preaching has whetted our appetite for his full history (although we are troubled by his basic scepticism about the words of Jesus). For many good reasons I would predict that no multi-volume history of preaching will ever surpass what Hugh Oliphant Old has given us and will give us.
Review by DavidL. Larsen