Book Review: Excellence in Preaching

This is a book on preaching, but rather different to those I have reviewed before. What sets this apart is Vibert's careful analysis of contemporary preachers, and the theological reflection he does on the way that they preach, in a distillation that is helpful for those of us who can't afford the time or money to travel around and hear them all!

The Revd Dr Simon Vibert is the Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, where he is also the Director of the School of Preaching. Befitting those roles, in this book he examines the preaching style and method of some of contemporary evangelicalism's best preachers. From fellow Oxonians Vaughan Roberts and Simon Ponsonby, to other Anglicans like Rico Tice, J. John, and Nicky Gumbel, across the pond to Mark Dever, John Piper, Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll (among others!) Vibert analyses with the care of a pastor and the skill of a theologian the various elements that make up the sermons of some of evangelicalism's most loved and respected communicators.

The first chapter is a look at 'Jesus Christ, the preacher: Setting the supreme standard'. Here Vibert analyses the preaching of Jesus. What is interesting is that, as Vibert notes, we cannot compare Jesus to modern preaches because we have no audio, only written records. In a world where depth is ignored but 'content is king', this is helpful, and we can (as Vibert guides us so helpfully) see and identify the pattern and structure of Jesus' sermons. It is interesting that we can observe in Jesus tools used in much modern preaching - Rhetorical questions, Exaggeration, humour and graphic illustration, and logic. This chapter alone is well worth reading for those who want to do things 'the Jesus way' - this involves good preaching!

The bulk of the book, then, is a careful analysis of 12 preachers. Each chapter picks one of their 'big ideas', whether that be Tim Keller 'Be aware of cultural and philosophical challenges to the gospel', Simon Ponsonby 'Be a Word-and-Spirit preacher', or Mark Dever 'Expose all of God's Word to all of God's people'. Seeing individual exemplary preachers as having a key theme to learn from is very helpful - and gives a good flow to the book. We close with a conclusion, wherein Vibert observes that the kind of preaching that brings life is 'the intermarriage of preacher, Word and Spirit', , and also an interesting survey and some online resources, which gives a good value-add and rounding-out to the book.

Overall, then this is a fascinating and readable book. I can see a few types of people who might find it interesting. The first, I think, would be those who preach. There are in this little paperback many helpful lessons, and I have tried to think through the implications of them for my own occasional preaching/teaching. Secondly, I think this is useful for those of us who listen to preaching, and want to think through how we might better hear what the Preacher is saying through Spirit out of the Word. Thirdly and finally, and this might be a more niche market, I think this book is a helpful one for those studying preaching, or wishing to get a handle on the technical aspects of the ministries of some well-known evangelical preachers. Ultimately, recommended!