Nielsen’s Nook

Piper, John.� The Supremacy of God in Preaching.� Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1990.

This very brief little book is a treatise on the substance of preaching.� The substance of preaching is set forth as threefold: 1) the goal of preaching as the Glory of God, 2) the ground of preaching as the cross of Christ, and 3) the gift of preaching as the power of the Holy Spirit.� The book is divided into two parts.� In part one, Piper seeks to outline what this Trinitarian substance of preaching would look like.� In part two, he seeks to help the reader learn how to incorporate it into their own preaching by venturing briefly into the preaching life of Jonathan Edwards.

The strengths of the book are many.� The stuff of the preaching that Piper articulates comes quite dissonantly into the contemporary American Evangelical culture.� Nevertheless, Piper does not hesitate to remind us that ultimately even those who would prefer sermons on better self-esteem cannot escape that their true and unquenchable thirst is for God.� “Our people are starving for God.” (p 11)� We would do well as preachers to incorporate more of the elements that Piper delineates in chapter 7, to the end that our parishioners are convicted of sin and fleeing to Christ.

While very much enjoying the book there is one suggestion this writer would make by way of preference.� The second plank of Piper’s thesis is that the ground of preaching is the cross of Christ.� Depending on how this is preached, it can be myopic.� I would have preferred that he focus on the person and work of Christ and in this way not run the risk of short changing aspects of Christ that are largely ignored in contemporary American Evangelical circles (e.g., the Incarnation).�

Overall, this book is a read that will exhort preachers to greater faithfulness in the preaching and might even help cultivate the palettes of parishioners who receive Christ and His benefits communicated through the preaching of the Word.

William J. Nielsen
Park Cities Presbyterian Church
Dallas, Texas