Best Books on Preaching: A Baker’s Dozen of My Favorites

Over the last 25 years, I have read dozens of books about preaching. I have learned something from almost all of them. There are many excellent resources out there, and even when I may not agree with the author’s theology or his overall method, I can still glean nuggets of wisdom and inspiration. My estimation of “best” is admittedly subjective. “Favorite” is probably more accurate. For all of us in ministry, a favorite book is often determined by when we read it and what we needed to hear at the time. And that’s undoubtedly true with the thirteen entries below.

I have not included standard textbooks like Haddon Robinson’s Biblical Preaching and Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching. I have benefited from both books, as I have from David Helm’s much shorter “textbook,” Expositional Preaching. I’ve also not included general pastoral works that have wonderful sections on preaching (e.g., Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students or Charles Bridges’s The Christian Ministry, or The Book of Pastoral Rule by Gregory the Great). My list is based on a very imperfect and somewhat impressionistic measure: I distinctly remember where I was when I read this book and how it helped me or challenged me or inspired me.

I won’t try to rank these books from “least favorite favorite” to “favoritest.” Instead, I’ll group them in several different categories and include a few sentences about each.

Books I Have Read Several Times

1. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers. If I could only read one preaching book for the rest of my ministry, it would be this one. I often tell young men that if they can read Preaching and Preachers and not feel a burning to preach, then I’m not sure they are called to be a preacher.

2. John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching. I first read this in seminary and then read it another two or three times in my first few years of ministry. Piper now has a much bigger book on preaching (Expository Exaltation), but this earlier and shorter work still directs my preaching Godward as few books do.

3. J.C. Ryle, Simplicity in Preaching. This book—a pamphlet really—is the shortest on this list, but the practical advice is invaluable. Ryle doesn’t call for simplistic sermons or push the preacher away from tackling complicated topics. But he does issue a reminder many of us need: preach so that people can follow and understand what you are saying.

Books about the Theology of Preaching

4. James Thompson, Preaching Like Paul: Homiletical Wisdom for Today. I first read this during the hazy, crazy days of Emergent. Thompson argues persuasively that even (or especially?) in a post-Christian world, preaching still needs to be propositional, discursive, theological, and authoritative. Preaching as story-telling will not suffice.

5. Jonathan I. Griffiths, Preaching in the New Testament: An Exegetical and Biblical-Theological Study. The big idea: preaching in the New Testament is a unique form of word ministry—not identical with teaching, bearing witness, or sharing the gospel—to be carried out by qualified, commissioned, and authorized men. Griffiths sees New Testament preaching as inheriting the model of Old Testament prophetic ministry.

Classic Books

6. William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying. Not a long book and still practical after more than four centuries. You’ll also get a flavor for the method and the heart of Puritan preaching.

7. James W. Alexander, Thoughts on Preaching. I hope someone will reformat and republish this nineteenth-century work, or at least the opening section of 166 “homiletical paragraphs.” I haven’t read a more challenging and thought-provoking book on preaching in the last ten years than this one.

8. John Stott, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century. This was one of the first preaching books I ever read. As you would expect from Stott, it’s full of order, insight, and wisdom—not only for preaching but for being spiritually formed as a preacher.

Books by Sort-of Evangelicals

9. Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching. The Episcopalian Brooks was a “broad churchman,” but these classic lectures from 1877 are well worth reading. Brooks calls for frankness, manliness, and preaching as “truth through personality.”

10. James S. Stewart, Heralds of God. As a twentieth-century Church of Scotland minister, Stewart can be a bit dodgy on the atonement, but he knows how to speak about the glory and the power of preaching. First published in 1946, this book can still inspire the preacher to be a “herald” and not merely a conveyor of religious truth.

More Recent Books

11. Albert N. Martin, Preaching in the Holy Spirit. In this short book, the well-known Baptist preacher directs our attention to a much-needed and sorely neglected topic.

12. Alec Motyer, Preaching? Simple Teaching and Simply Preaching. An influential Irish Bible scholar, Motyer distills a lifetime of teaching experience into an eminently readable and insightful book.

A Book for the Preacher’s Heart

13. Lewis Allen, The Preacher’s Catechism. Using the Westminster Shorter Catechism as his inspiration and (loose) guide, Allen goes through 43 questions and answers designed to remind the busy/distracted/discouraged/puffed-up/cast-down preacher about what really matters (and what doesn’t) in a life of faithful ministry.

Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.