Learning to speak to ordinary people
The notes contrast formal learning with a minister’s ability to communicate intelligibly to a congregation.
Reading lead: Ministerial Education; opening sections of Highlights from Broadus.
Pastoral reading / Research & reflection
From the classroom
to the pulpit.
Explore Dr. Wooten’s preaching paper and a set of reading pathways through the Broadus research notes.
John Bartley Wooten / October 6, 2017
Broadus in the pulpit and on the page.
The supplied course paper, titled John A. Broadus, was written for Preaching from the New Testament at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. It considers Broadus’s life and homiletics, then compares his sermon on the Lord’s Prayer with his instruction in Preparation and Delivery of Sermons.
A way into the paper: Read the sections on sermon introductions, interpretation, illustration, application, and conclusion. Where does the sermon reflect the textbook? Where does delivery or audience make the comparison more difficult?
Read Dr. Wooten’s original paperA 2017 course paper, presented as supplied; not described as a peer-reviewed publication.
Ideas for the study.
The themes below summarize the supplied Highlights and Insights notes. These are reading pathways and editorial summaries, not new direct quotations from Broadus.
Training the mind
Several entries emphasize patient attention, judgment, and clear expression, rather than the accumulation of information alone.
Reading lead: A College Education for Men of Business; Education in Athens.
Freedom with discipline
The elective approach in the notes combines student choice with demanding study and examinations. Freedom is not treated as an absence of standards.
Reading lead: Educational structure and examinations; dissertation-related research notes.
The classroom and the church
The collected material asks how theological training serves ministers with different preparation, available time, and ministry circumstances.
Reading lead: Ministerial Education; theological education sections of the supplied notes.
Carry a question into your next sermon.
What would you change if your goal were not simply to display what you know, but to help your congregation understand the text?
A contemporary discussion question from The Broadus Project.
Sources: WootenJohnPreachingfromthenewtesament.docx and Highlights from Broadus.docx. The highlights mix quotations, paraphrases, analysis, and page pointers. Follow the named work and edition before using a quotation in teaching or publication.