Book Notices -- By: Mark R. Stevenson

Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 16:1 (Summer 2007)
Article: Book Notices
Author: Mark R. Stevenson


Book Notices

Mark R. Stevenson

Editor

Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel. By R. Kent Hughes, Wheaton: Crossway, 2007, 239 pages, hardcover, $24.99.

Preachers and teachers of Scripture will welcome this latest edition of the Preaching the Word series from the pen of seasoned expositor Kent Hughes. In addition to Hughes’ role as general editor of the series, Philippians marks his fourteenth personal contribution. Other volumes from Hughes include Genesis, the Sermon on the Mount, Mark (2 volumes), Luke (2 volumes), John, Acts, Romans, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, 1 & 2 Timothy, Hebrews (2 volumes), and James. It is a worthy endeavor to invest one’s life and energies in preaching through whole books of the Bible! In the present volume, Hughes divides the four chapters of Philippians into 23 chapters—or messages, since the chapters were originally sermons Hughes preached. Each chapter retains the sermonic tone with exposition, illustration, and application.

It is often helpful for preachers to see how wise and faithful expositors handle the same biblical text they themselves are working on—not in order to plagiarize the sermons of others, but for insight, ideas, and inspiration in the proclamation of the Word. The present volume will serve that role well for any who purpose to preach through Philippians.

Mark R. Stevenson

Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching: In Honor of R. Kent Hughes. By Leland Ryken and Todd Wilson, editors, Wheaton: Crossway, 2007, 288 pages, hardcover, $22.00.

This book is a festschrift in honor of Kent Hughes’ sixty-fifth birthday and his retirement as senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, where he has served for over a quarter of a century. The editors have assembled an impressive array of contributors and essays (e.g. “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Study Method for Faithful Preaching,” by John MacArthur and “Challenges for the Twenty-first-century Pulpit,” by D. A. Carson). The essays are divided into four parts: Interpretive Principles and Practices, Biblical and Historical Paradigms, Contemporary Challenges and Aims, and Training and Example. The final chapter offers a biographical sketch of Kent Hughes.

Those who engage in the solemn duty of expounding the Word of God to the people of God ought to regularly read serious books on preaching in order to hone their craft and foster their vision for the work. Preach the Word is a worthy candidate for such a reading list.

Mark R. Stevenson

The Reformation:...

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