REVIEW OF BOOK BY HADON W.
ROBINSON
SYLVANUS GATORWU
SUM
BIBLICAL PREACHING
Bibliographic Information
The
Homiletical Handbook by Hadon W. Robinson is published by the Baker Book House
Company.
Being the thirty-fourth printing in February
2000, the book is registered with ISBN 0-8010-7700-100 with Catalog Number
80-66776. The book has a total of 232 pages
Introduction
The book on Homiletics entitled
“Biblical Preaching” has “Developing and delivery of expository messages as its
main subject.”
The book deals with the question of
why expository preaching is important, what goes into it and then moves on to
tackle the issue of how a preacher can effectively deliver his message,
engaging his audience from the start of the sermon till the end.
Even though the book passes for an
academic piece, it is very practical in its approach to the issues it deals
with. It is does “user friendly” for any reader.
The
Author
Haddon W. Robinson is a Professor
of Preaching at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He was President and
Professor of Homiletics and Speech at Denver Seminary and has taught Homiletics
at Dallas Theological Seminary for nineteen years. He holds a Masters in
Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, an M.A form Southern Methodist
University, and a Ph.D. in speech communication from the University of
Illinois.
Review
of main points in the book
The
book opens with a strong case why expository preaching is important. According
to Robinson
most
of the preaching today hasn’t got the divine authority behind it, it merely
retells the history of Jesus again and again without any power behind it.
Meanwhile,
man or listeners need a certain type of preaching that will touch and bring
conviction, yet stay within the scriptures.
This
type of preaching that “best carries the force of divine authority is
expository preaching”
Even
though Robinson claims it is difficult to define expository preaching, he
attempts one and says,
“Expository preaching is the communication of a
biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical,
grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy
Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then
through him to his hearers.”
The next thing the book touches is what should constitute
an expository preaching, and the steps in putting together the sermon.
The book stresses that the preacher preaches a
concept from within a text and communicates the concept to his hearers
effectively.
To prepare well, the preacher has to go through
these suggested steps.
Choosing the
passage to be preached, Studying the passage and gathering notes.
Next is
relating the parts to each other to determine the exegetical idea and its
development and then Formulating a Homiletical
Idea
The
book addresses how to preach So People will listen, in doing so the book
postulates the importance of how to formulate an idea within the context of the text being preached.
The book at this point warns that the expositor
must communicate a concept, otherwise, he risks being led astray in the name of
inspiration. Robinson quotes Francis A. Schaeffer from the book “True
Spirituality” and argues that the great battle for men takes place in the realm
of thought.
In his opinion, if the preacher does not have a
concept around which he would develop his message, he would broaden his message
so wide that, he could veer away from the message of the text.
The three developmental questions to answer while
developing an expository message are also addressed in the book. These are
1.
What does this mean? This question explores the explanation to the message.
2.
Is it true? Do I believe it? This question explores the validity of the message.
3.
So what? What difference does it make? This question explores the implications and
applications of the message
Robinson
then moves on to touch on how to use illustrations, he expresses concern about
when and which illustrations to use. The book gives examples and admonishes
preachers to be aware of their audience and location before using certain
illustrations.
Next,
he touches on eye contact in preaching and says look at your audience “in the
eye" and “talk with them personally”, adding, watching somewhere else
while preaching is crippling.
The
last part of the book throws light on what I call the four Ps, namely, Pitch,
Punch, Progress and
Pause.
Robinson says, the speaker's voice and gestures first strike the audience's
senses,
Elements helpful to me
which I will apply in my future sermon preparation
There
are many things in the book that I have personally learned and would employ in
my future sermon preparation.
The
use of lexicons, Concordances, bible dictionaries, and commentaries.
The
book emphasizes the need to use these resources to aid the preacher in arriving
at accurate meanings of words.
These
tools will aid me to make good meaning of the texts I use for sermons.
The
use of Grammar in preparing preaching is the next thing I have learned.
I
have come to appreciate that words by themselves mean nothing. Words must be
understood as they are used in phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs.
In
doing this, I have come to learn from the book that, Syntax analysis is
important in this respect. It will help me to understand the grammar of the
scriptures better culminating in effective communication.
The
next element I found, which would aid me in my work during sermon delivery is
what Robinson calls Nonverbal
language. These are gestures, facial expression, and tone of voice that
transmit messages.
They
are the Pitch, Punch, Progress, and Pause.
The
books warn against mono-pitch, and I have learned to use multi-pitches as it
keeps the audience alive and awake.
Pauses
at very crucial points during delivery communicates a lot that is not said.
With
punches, I have learned to apply them appropriately, as the example the book
gives, repeating “the Lord is my shepherd” five times, with a different voice
punch and variation will generate different interests.
Progress
has to do with the rate of delivery, and I have been really surprised at the
explanation Robinson gives. This is a technique and skill that when applied
appropriately would keep an audience as well.
I
have also learned to define the purpose of my sermon before delivering.
Generally,
Haddon W. Robinson’s book is easy to read and to apply. The exercises at the
end of each chapter help the reader to recap whatever he has studied. It is
written with a user-friendly approach making the subject of Homiletics, easy
for even the layperson to learn.
Weakness
The
the weakness I notice about the book is that it says very little about
the character of the preacher.
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