Three Books on Preaching
How to be a Better Preacher according to Saints
Introduction
We Speak the Word of the Lord: a Practical Plan for More Effective
Preaching by Harris; How to Make Homilies Better, Briefer, and Bolder by McBride and Preaching to the Hungers of the Heart by Wallace all have the same objective in mind, which is to improve one’s preaching. However, their approaches are different and the areas on which they focus reveal the preoccupations of their authors. This paper will discuss the main ideas of the books, their similarities and their differences and show how they all compare and contrast with one another.
Main Ideas
The main idea of the book by Harris is to approach the job of preaching from a practical standpoint. The argument that Harris makes is that preachers lose sight of their immediate objective when they lack a practical plan for their preaching. The immediate objective of the homily, according to Harris, is to allow the audience to experience the Word of God—not just to receive a catechism lesson on the difference between mortal and venial sin. Harris gives several examples on the difference between preaching Christ and preaching about Christ. One example he uses is the giving of two different sermons on the parable of the prodigal son. The first sermon uses the parable to give a catechism lesson about what sin is. The second sermon engages the audience and approaches the topic of forgiveness first as a skeptic and cynic and then concludes with a major reversal and shows that the “foolish” father in the parable is like God who forgives us our sins without beating us down as most of the audience fully expects a father to do towards a son who has gone wayward.[footnoteRef:2] The second sermon is the better example of what it means to approach the practice of preaching in the way that is most effective. The main point of Harris is that the preacher has to preach from God’s Word, include other voices, tell a story in a fresh way, and relate it to the audience so they experience the Word of God. Those are the kind of homilies that achieve the ultimate objective of conversion and the development of faith. [2: Harris, Daniel E. We Speak the Word of the Lord: a Practical Plan for More Effective Preaching Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publicshers, 2001, 12.]
The main point of the book by McBride is that a homily is not just a recitation of information that is meant to stimulate intellectually but rather it must also be a call to action that inspires people to want to amend their lives and draw nearer to God. McBride gives a basic step by step approach and illustrates each step by providing an example from preachers throughout Church history—from St. Augustine to St. Leo the Great to St. Gregory and so on. His main points are that the preacher should fully be owned by the Word of God so that...
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