The flourishing of the Homiletics programs in many seminaries and the increased number of those who are seeking to make their mark on the field insures that there will be no shortage of new books on preaching in any given year. Many seasoned pastors also seek to commit their homiletical philosophies, struggles, and discoveries to paper.

There were many releases in homiletics in 1999. This article will focus on the works which were received for consideration in the category, "Year's Best in Homiletics." The trend seems to be toward anthologies which highlight a diverse array of homiletical styles and models.

One such book is Patterns of Preaching: A Sermon Sampler (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 252 pp. Paper ISBN) by frequent Preaching magazine contributor Ronald Allen of Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Allen provides a sampler of diverse homiletical styles and patterns under the headings of traditional, contemporary occasional, and theological. He writes a description of each style he is describing and then includes sermons by such preachers as Fred Craddock, Tom Long, Henry Mitchell, Eugene Lowry, David Buttrick and Charles Rice. For example, in the Traditional section, he gives a description of verse-by-verse preaching followed by a sermon by Fred Craddock. Other sermon styles highlighted here are the Puritan Plain Style, a Simple Inductive Sermon, and Sermons That Make Points.

In the section dealing with contemporary homiletical approaches, he has sermons by David Buttrick which serve as a model of his "plots" and "moves" as well as a model demonstrating Eugene Lowry's "Homiletical plot" which moves from "oops!" to "yeah!" In writing about Patterns for Subjects, Allen includes such topics as Wedding and Funeral homilies as well as explanations of Doctrinal preaching and Teaching sermons. Contributors include William McClain, Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, and Thomas Troeger.

Allen's concluding section gives an overview of preaching from several diverse theological perspectives. Since Preaching is evangelical in its editorial orientation, the section on evangelical preaching would be of great interest to its readers. The sermon here is provided by Bryan Chappell.

Allen's Patterns of Preaching would be a good reference tool for anyone who feels that his or her preaching is in a rut and realizes the need to cultivate a more diverse homiletical repertoire. If you want a good forkball to go with your homiletical fastball and off-speed pitch, Allen's work is for you.

Ron Allen has also collaborated on a volume by Westminster/John Knox Press entitled Preaching Verse by Verse. He draws on a long tradition from church history of the lectio continua in an effort to tell those of other theological persuasions, in effect, "You don't have to be a fundamentalist (or even an evangelical) to preach verse by verse." The main objection many people have to verse-by-verse preaching is that it may tend toward dullness and in the minds of others may be little different from delivering a running commentary.