The Legacy of Andrew W. Blackwood

While our subject had much more to teach about the methods of sermon preparation and delivery, no aspect of either preparation or delivery was more important to this man of God than prayer. He wanted all the minister's work to begin and end in prayer. At the close of The Fine Art of Preaching, he supposed this might be the final prayer in the study once the sermon was ready: "Here, is my sermon. It is a piece of my heart and of my life. Take it, I beseech thee, and use it as an earthen vessel. Cleanse it by Thy Holy Spirit; then fill it and flood it with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."33

Among Blackwood's trademark phrases were "today is not yesterday" and "no young David should sally forth in King Saul's armor." These appear in nearly every one of his books. He would affix the same warning to any reappraisal of his work today. He would want no pastor or professor to study his methods and theories with the aim of carrying them into the present day wholesale and unchanged. Still, Blackwood's writings repay study and his biography is full of both divine grace and human charm. Those who would establish a teaching ministry today, and who would hope to carry it out in a spirit of Christian radiance, can find help in the legacy of Andrew W. Blackwood, Sr.

1.Andrew W. Blackwood, Preaching from the Bible (1941, Baker Book House, 1974), p. 190.

2.See Jay E. Adams, The Homiletical Innovations of Andrew W. Blackwood (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1975), p. 52, n. 18.

3.Andrew W. Blackwood, The Protestant Pulpit (New York: Abingdon, 1947), p. 305.

4.Andrew W. Blackwood, "The Young Minister's Study," The Union Seminary Review, XXVIII (March, 1917), p. 226 as quoted by Adams, The Homiletical Innovations of Andrew W. Blackwood, pp. 56-57.

5.Andrew W. Blackwood, Planning A Year's Pulpit Work (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1942), p. 69.

6.Andrew W. Blackwood, Pastoral Leadership (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1949), p. 22.

7.Andrew W. Blackwood, Planning A Year's Pulpit Work, p. 20.

8.Andrew W. Blackwood, Preaching From the Bible, p. 41.

9.Andrew W. Blackwood, The Preparation of Sermons (New York: 1948), p. 162.

10.Quoted by John Harries, G. Campbell Morgan (New York: 1930), p. 65.

11.Andrew W. Blackwood, The Preparation of Sermons, p. 64.

12.Andrew W. Blackwood, Preaching From the Bible, p. 37.

13.Andrew W. Blackwood, Expository Preaching for Today (New York: Abingdon Cokesbury, 1953), p. 190.

14.Andrew W. Blackwood, Preaching From the Bible, pp. 94ff.

15.Phillips Brooks, Lectures on Preaching (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1950), p. 129 as quoted by Andrew W. Blackwood, Doctrinal Preaching for Today (New York: Abingdon, 1956), p. 37.

16.Andrew W. Blackwood, Planning A Year's Pulpit Work, p. 70.

17.Andrew W. Blackwood, Planning A Year's Pulpit Work, p. 17.

18.Andrew W. Blackwood, Doctrinal Preaching for Today, p. 34.

19.Andrew W. Blackwood, Biographical Preaching for Today (New York: Abingdon, 1954), p. 17.

20.Andrew W. Blackwood, Evangelical Sermons of our Day (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959). p. 22.

21.Andrew W. Blackwood, Expository Preaching for Today, p. 199.

22.Andrew W. Blackwood, Planning A Year's Pulpit Work, pp. 219-220.

23.Andrew W. Blackwood, Pastoral Work (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1945) 65.

24.Andrew W. Blackwood, The Growing Minister (New York: Abingdon, 1960), p. 56.

25.Andrew W. Blackwood, Planning A Year's Pulpit Work, p. 25.

26.Andrew W. Blackwood, The Preparation of Sermons, p. 41.

27.Ibid., p.125.

28.Andrew W. Blackwood, "What is Wrong With Preaching Today?", The Asbury Seminarian, 7 (Winter 1953), p. 17.

29.Andrew W Blackwood, The Preparation of Sermons, pp. 109 ff.

30.Ibid., p. 162.

31.Ibid., p. 152.

32.Ibid., p. 156.

33.Andrew W. Blackwood, The Fine Art of Preaching (1937, rpt.: Baker Book House, 1976), p. 168.