Booknote: “The Man of God: His Preaching and Teaching Labors” by Albert N. Martin
Albert N. Martin, Pastoral Theology, Volume 2: The Man of God: His Preaching and Teaching Labors. Montville, NJ: Trinity Pulpit Press, 2018. $32.50, clothbound.
Forty years ago, I was a student pastor preaching weekly in four rural Tennessee churches. Lacking both a seminary education and field supervision, I was on my own and needed help. Books on preaching were a gift from God as they brought me through my first year in the pulpit. Since then, I have read at least two or three every year – a practice I commend to my seminary students. This practice of reading contributed to my maturity as a preacher. Without books, my ministry and preaching would be impoverished.
Time spent talking about preaching with fellow ministers proved just as valuable. These informal conversations explored areas not mentioned in standard preaching texts: sanctuary architecture, climate control, comfortable seating, squirming children and their distracted parents, nurseries, devotional habits, the ups and downs of preaching – the list goes on. These exchanges left lasting impressions.
Albert N. Martin’s The Man of God: His Preaching and Teaching Labors (the second of three volumes in pastoral theology) contains the instruction one expects in a homiletics textbook, as well as an array of those practical matters we preachers have on our minds.
