The Making of the Sermon

“No man is in greater danger of becoming formal - I will not say fossilized - than is the ordinary preacher,” writes Thomas Harwood Pattison in this classic work of homiletics. “Even when the happy experiences of his pastorate keep his heart young, there may be no springtime in his habits of thought. Every true preacher will bear me witness that there are times when he resents the monotony of his work; not that he is tired of it, but only, as George Whitefield said so pathetically, that he is tired in it. Unconsciously to himself, perhaps, he furnishes a fresh illustration of the truth of Lord Bacon’s weighty words: “A man would die, though he was neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over. One cure for this wearisome trend in his pulpit preparation he may find in frequently reviewing his course and revising his methods. The business of preaching fulfills itself in many ways, and we are wise if, even though it be at the cost of betraying some lack of ease as we strike into them, we now and then resolve to explore the unbeaten paths of our vocation.” 


This book contains the following chapters: 


1. What Is Preaching? 

2. The Text Summary 

3. The Text (Continued) 

4. The Treatment of the Text 

5. The Treatment of the Text (Continued) 

6. The Treatment of the Text (Continued) 

7. The Theme 

8. The Theme (Continued). Summary 

9. The Theme (Continued) 

10. Parts of the Sermon 

11. Parts of the Sermon (Continued) 

12. Parts of the Sermon (Continued) 

13. Rhetorical Elements in the Sermon 

14. Rhetorical Elements in the Sermon (Continued) 

15. Rhetorical Elements in the Sermon (Continued) 

16. Rhetorical Elements in the Sermon (Continued) 

17. Rhetorical Elements in the Sermon (Continued) 

18. Rhetorical Elements in the Sermon (Continued) 

19. The Delivery of the Sermon 

20. The Delivery of the Sermon (Continued) 

21. The Delivery of the Sermon (Continued) 

22. The Delivery of the Sermon (Continued) 

23. The Preacher and His Hearer