by David Bebbington
In 1856 Elias Lyman Magoon, pastor of Oliver Street Baptist Church, New York, published a collection of the sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Magoon had visited Britain in the previous decade and continued to be supplied with newspapers from the United Kingdom. He had written two books on oratorical achievements past and present. The New York pastor was therefore fascinated to discover that a youthful preacher of his own denomination had taken London by storm.
Spurgeon, though only a teenager when he accepted the pulpit of New Park Street Baptist Chapel, Southwark, in 1854, was the talk of the British capital. His chapel was thronged every Sunday; his services were sought throughout the land; and his sermons flooded from the press. Magoon decided to publish a sample for consumption in the United States. Spurgeon, according to the American, was “as original in his conceptions as he is untrammeled in their utterance.” Over the years down to his death in 1892, Spurgeon was to prove to be the greatest preacher of the century. What, asked Magoon, was the explanation of his powers?
Enduring Truth argues that faithfulness to Scripture is the solution to a “crisis” among African American preaching. Though misinterpreting God’s Word is not restricted to one race or culture, author Aaron Lavender identifies three factors that have precipitated the decline of black preaching specifically: racial segregation, black liberation theology, and prosperity theology.
Some years ago one of the authors was invited by the Lutheran bishop of Dusseldorf to come to Germany and speak to his new pastors. The bishop had been converted to Christ long after he had become a Lutheran minister. When asked what he saw as the greatest need of his young, beginning pastors, he replied, “They need to be saved.”
Why do some Christians love theology more than people? After all, from an eternal perspective, people matter more than ideas. It does not matter what you believe as long as you are doing good things in the world. Some people who do not even believe in Jesus are better Jesus-followers than Christians—these people are the real Kingdom of God.
Because of the extraordinary revelations the apostle Paul received, he writes, “A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself” (2 Cor 12:7).
In the spirit of end-of-year top 5, 10, and 16 lists, here are the top 5 articles we’ve published at the B&H Academic Blog. Thank you for reading, subscribing, and staying up to date with all-things-B&H Academic.
by Elmer Towns and Ben Gutierrez
Christmas cards frequently proclaim, and Christmas carols echo, the well-known angelic pronouncement at Jesus’ birth of “peace on earth, good will toward men.”
