Peter Marshall: Preaching with a Sanctified Imagination

Peter Marshall often said, "Spirituality is a matter of perception, not proof." His wife, Catherine, claimed this statement was his favorite thought. This statement also stands as the defining commentary on his imaginative preaching.

Most preachers in the first half of the 20th century relied on rhetoric to proclaim God's truth. Marshall decided to paint word pictures for his listeners. He dazzled his audience with a poetic language that evoked the feelings of his hearers and

connected their feelings to biblical facts. His unique style prompted his ministerial friends in Washington, D.C., to nickname him "Twittering Birds Marshall."¹

Some people who heard Marshall preach supposed he came by his poetic speech naturally. He was born in the land of Bobby Burns and could lapse into his Scottish brogue at the first sound of a bagpipe. Like many Scots, his language had a musical quality that appealed to many listeners, especially in America where he ministered.

Marshall was born in 1902 in Coatbridge, Scotland, an industrial area nine miles from the sea. The lure of the sea enticed the young Marshall to join the British Navy at age 14. The Navy, however, only accepted volunteers at 15 years nine months, so he was forced to return home, where an alcoholic stepfather made life difficult. Even though Marshall worked full time and attended night school in which he studied mechanical engineering, his broken relationship with his stepfather compelled him to move out of his parents' home at age 20.

Marshall surrendered to Christian ministry after hearing a missionary from China appeal for workers. Because Marshall had neither the education required by the London Missionary Society nor the money to obtain it, he traveled to America, where his cousin said he could earn a living and train for the ministry. His first few months in his new country, however, were anything but promising. He commented on his early days in New Jersey in a sermon: "I worked hard for long hours. I dug ditches. I wielded spade and shovel. I was unemployed."²

A friend encouraged Marshall to move south. After earnestly praying for God's guidance, he relocated to Birmingham, Alabama. In a few weeks he started working at The Birmingham News, joined the First Presbyterian Church, became the president of the church's organization for young people, accepted the teacher's position for the men's Bible class and began making preparation to attend seminary. His personal struggles and hard work during his early years wove their way into his preaching and gave his listeners something with which to identify.

Marshall first heard about a "sanctified imagination" as a student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. He explained to David Simpson, a classmate, his thinking about preaching with a sanctified imagination: "What we need to do is take a passage of Scripture and so carefully and accurately reconstruct the context of it that the scene comes to life. We see it first ourselves. Then we take our listeners to the spot in imagination. We make them see and hear what happened so vividly that the passage will live forever in their minds and hearts."3