The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church: Moderatism, Pietism, and Awakening

Jacket Description/Back: "The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church" is a multivolume study by Oliphant Old that explores the history of preaching from the words of Moses at Mount Sinai through modern times. In Volume 5, "Pietism, Moderatism, and Awakening," Old brings the story of preaching up through the eighteenth century, showing how, after the tumultuous age of the Reformation, preaching in the eighteenth century was driven in several very different directions. The first part of the book explores Moderatism, an inevitable reaction against the high tensions of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The part of the book examines the Pietist preachers Philipp Jakob Spener, August Hermann Francke, Johann Albrecht Bengel, Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuyen, Gilbert Tennent, John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Samuel Davies. The final part of the book surveys a number of national schools of preaching, including preaching in New England, preaching in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franciscan preaching in Spanish California, Romanian Orthodoxy under the Turks, preaching in the Russian Orthodox Church, preaching in Scotland, and Evangelical Anglicanism.bStudying these volumes is like walking around a great cathedral: every section, however distinctive, unites in a grand design whose aim is to restore preaching to its rightful place. This multivolume work is easily the best history of preaching ever written, one that will serve generations of those whose faith comes by hearing.b-- William EdgarWestminster Theological SeminarybEcumenical in breadth, magisterial in authority, and pastoral in intentionality, Oldbs multivolume history of preaching is a landmark inAmerican intellectual history. Old views preaching as an act of worship, and his own prodigious scholarship likewise stands in service to God. Old has bequeathed to the church of the twenty-first century the definitive history of preaching, a spiritual feast for scholars and preachers alike for years and years to come.b-- James F. Kay Princeton Theological SeminarybI consider this series by Old to be most timely. The current unfortunate trend to dumb down worship will less Scripture and with popular topical sermons needs the corrective offered in this comprehensive and readable work.bNorthern Baptist Theological Seminary

Contributor Bio:  Old, Hughes Oliphant Hughes Oliphant Old is a former member of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey and a former pastor. He is the author of a multi-volume history of preaching.