He [Poindexter] spoke of concentrating one's mental gifts and possible attainments to the work of the ministry ... he swept away all the disguise of self-delusion, all the excuses of fancied humility; he held up the thought that the greatest sacrifices and toils possible to the minister's life time would be a hundred-fold repaid if he should be the instrument of saving one soul.... When intermission came, the young man who has been mentioned sought out his pastor, and with choking voice said: "Brother Grimsley, the question is decided; I must try to be a preacher."2

Broadus distinguished himself in classical studies at the University of Virginia and, when he graduated at the age of twenty-three, was offered a position as assistant professor of Latin and Greek at his alma mater. A few years later, he added to his responsibilities the position of university chaplain. He also served as pastor of the Charlottesville church where he profoundly influenced young people and practiced what was, for him, the fine art of preaching.

Broadus believed that ministers should be educated in the liberal arts. At the University, to his study of languages, he added moral philosophy, natural philosophy, chemistry, and history. He often quoted the ancient Greeks and Romans but included also such thinkers as Confucious, Chaucer, Bacon, Ignatius, Goldsmith, Wordsworth, Renan, and others. He advised preachers that no kind of knowledge can be utterly useless"3 and that they should read the "best books in every subject."4 Ministers should be familiar with the great authors, the natural world, and human nature.

Near the end of his life he complained in letters to his wife and daughter that he did not have enough time for reading novels. It is doubtful that it was ever necessary for him to purchase books of illustrations and call friends in desperation on Saturday night seeking a sermon-saving story.

Broadus was a Bible scholar who struggled with careless treatment of Scripture produced by superficial familiarity. "The main difficulty with students of the Bible," he said, "is they think they know more than they do and want to know more than they can ...."5 One of his former students noted that Broadus' students "feared him hardly less than they loved him."6 He demanded respect for learning and set rigid standards for aspiring ministers of religion.

The dual emphasis on Bible and preaching is a natural one. Broadus stressed expository preaching, not in the sense of tedious verse-by-verse commentary but with the understanding that the preacher's task is to explain the passage. Every sermon should be true to the text. He urged preachers to dismiss "prepossessions," i.e. prejudices with regard to the meaning of text. He believed that depth analysis of Scripture required work in the original languages. His hermeneutic required the preacher to translate ideas and not just words. He warned that "strict interpretation may be carried too far"7 -- although his own exposition seems most often to have followed "strict" interpretation.