Three Books on Preaching
How to be a Better Preacher according to Saints

Introduction

We Speak the Word of the Lord: a Practical Plan for More Effective

Preaching by Harris; How to Make Homilies Better, Briefer, and Bolder by McBride and Preaching to the Hungers of the Heart by Wallace all have the same objective in mind, which is to improve one’s preaching. However, their approaches are different and the areas on which they focus reveal the preoccupations of their authors. This paper will discuss the main ideas of the books, their similarities and their differences and show how they all compare and contrast with one another.

Main Ideas

The main idea of the book by Harris is to approach the job of preaching from a practical standpoint. The argument that Harris makes is that preachers lose sight of their immediate objective when they lack a practical plan for their preaching. The immediate objective of the homily, according to Harris, is to allow the audience to experience the Word of God—not just to receive a catechism lesson on the difference between mortal and venial sin. Harris gives several examples on the difference between preaching Christ and preaching about Christ. One example he uses is the giving of two different sermons on the parable of the prodigal son. The first sermon uses the parable to give a catechism lesson about what sin is. The second sermon engages the audience and approaches the topic of forgiveness first as a skeptic and cynic and then concludes with a major reversal and shows that the “foolish” father in the parable is like God who forgives us our sins without beating us down as most of the audience fully expects a father to do towards a son who has gone wayward.[footnoteRef:2] The second sermon is the better example of what it means to approach the practice of preaching in the way that is most effective. The main point of Harris is that the preacher has to preach from God’s Word, include other voices, tell a story in a fresh way, and relate it to the audience so they experience the Word of God. Those are the kind of homilies that achieve the ultimate objective of conversion and the development of faith. [2: Harris, Daniel E. We Speak the Word of the Lord: a Practical Plan for More Effective Preaching Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publicshers, 2001, 12.]

The main point of the book by McBride is that a homily is not just a recitation of information that is meant to stimulate intellectually but rather it must also be a call to action that inspires people to want to amend their lives and draw nearer to God. McBride gives a basic step by step approach and illustrates each step by providing an example from preachers throughout Church history—from St. Augustine to St. Leo the Great to St. Gregory and so on. His main points are that the preacher should fully be owned by the Word of God so that he can call people to faith, and a good way to call them is to begin with a story as St. Ambrose used to do, which allowed him to dramatize Scripture and make it more experiential for the audience.[footnoteRef:3] McBride provides preaching lessons from Cardinal Newman, known for his gift of oration, and a final chapter entitled “How to Talk” by one of the most gifted elocutionists and preachers of the past century, Fulton Sheen. Thus, McBride provides numerous different points on how to preach by appealing to dozens of different voices and experts in the matter—most of them saints, but all of them worth listening to. [3: McBride, Alfred. How to Make Homilies Better, Briefer, and Bolder. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2007, 25.]

The main point of the book by Wallace is that people in the modern world are hungry for direction, hungry for meaning, hungry for the Spirit, and hungry for words that will move them. They are mainly weak...…to read and feels more useful just from a practical point of view. Harris’s book feels a bit more practical as well, but it is also a bit like Wallace’s in that it feels heavier than it really should. McBride’s on the other hand is written and displayed textually in such a way that it really has the busy reader in mind. The eye can quickly and easily scan it, and each chapter focuses on a specific saint or preacher with a specific idea at the heart of the chapter, so the reader can peruse the table of contents and immediately find what he is looking for. This is not really the case with Wallace’s or Harris’s book. There is much more slogging through the chapters in order to find the nuggets and pearls of wisdom in their books. Wallace has many footnotes at the bottom of most pages, which give it a scholarly look and that can be a bit intimidating for a reader who does not want to be overwhelmed with academic information. For those who do not mind that kind of approach, it will be welcomed, but most readers are likely to connect with McBride’s simple but effective approach.

Conclusion

Overall, all three books are fine and are worth reading because each offers insight into how to be a better preacher in their own ways. There is no one size fits all approach to preaching and it is important for the preacher to find his own strengths so that he can utilize these as well. The three books certainly complement one another in terms of identifying and commenting on particular areas where preachers should pay especial attention, but when it comes to which book is the easiest to read that would have to be McBride’s book. The most interesting to read, however, is probably going to be Harris’s because it has so many interesting anecdotes. Wallace’s is going to be the most scholarly, however, with all its myriad footnotes.

Bibliography

Harris, Daniel…