George A. Buttrick was born at Seaham Harbour, Northumberland, England, on March 23, 1892. In 1915 he graduated from Victoria University, Manchester with honors in philosophy.

Buttrick began his ministry as a Congregationalist in Quincy, Illinois, going from there to the First Congregational Church in Rutland, Vermont, and thence to the First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, New York.

In 1927 he succeeded Henry Sloane Coffin as minister of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, remaining there until 1955. For the next ten years he was Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Preacher to the University at Harvard.

After that Buttrick taught homiletics at Garrett Seminary, Davidson College, Vanderbilt and the Southern Baptist Seminary at Louisville. In his mid-eighties he was still vigorous and creative as a thinker, preacher and teacher.

Almost to the day he died in 1980, Buttrick was in his study working on the next sermon and reading the latest theological book. He combined the scholar's mind, the pastor's heart and the preacher's passion.

He published twelve books but only one book of sermons: Sermons Preached in a University Church (1959). He was very hesitant about publishing these, for three reasons which he gives in the preface. First, the preacher writes for the ear and must now rewrite for the eye. Second, the sermon is an "I-Thou" transaction, in that the congregation makes the sermon almost as much as the preacher.

Third, a sermon is a part of worship, is itself worship. "Remove the prayer-worship, the brooding of the Spirit on the worshipping congregation, and how much of the sermon is left?"

The twenty-six sermons in this book are classified in two main sections: Faith and Doubt and Faith and Life. The headings indicate the two major interests that run through all Buttrick's preaching: to help the honest skeptic arrive at a valid faith and to strengthen the faith of the Christian by showing the significance of the faith for daily living.

A third and briefer section includes sermons for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost.

These sermons are scholarly, brilliant and biblical. Three qualities make them memorable.

1. Intellectual robustness. Perhaps the challenge of a university helps to account for this. As Buttrick says: "Students state bluntly the doubts which other men try to hide." Here is a keen and honest search for truth and the kind of probing thought which commands respect.

2. Emotional appeal. These sermons reach the heart as well as the mind. They reveal a sensitive imagination and the spirit of a sympathetic counselor. He gives warmth as well as light.

3. Literary quality. The sermons have the style of a literary artist. There is nothing slipshod in his diction. It has both the lucidity and the vividness that characterize writing of the first rank. It has overtones of feeling that intimate something of the mood of the poet.

Buttrick was a preacher who combined artistry with sound interpretation, an expositor who used freely the resources of literature and the freshest of illustrative material.