Dear Preacher, : Letters on Preaching by Bryant Rueda

Dear Preacher, : Letters on Preaching, is described by author Bryant Rueda as a “devotional and introductory book on preaching.” The book consists of fifty short letters on preaching written by the author’s “older self” to his younger (and less experienced) self. The purpose of the book is to share with the reader “some of the most helpful homiletical gold nuggets” that Rueda has discovered in the course of his study of preaching. Each of the short letters looks at preaching from a different angle. Some examples include: “Preaching as Trinitarian,” “Preaching As Stewardship,” and “Preaching as Catechetical.” Some of the letters are a page long. One of the longer letters is seven and a half pages long. A preacher could easily read a letter a day as part of his personal devotions.

In most of the letters, Rueda quotes from a writer on preaching and adds his own commentary. It is evident that he has read widely. He quotes from preaching books that are old standbys, including D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Preaching and Preachers, Haddon Robinson’s, Biblical Preaching, and Fred Craddock’s Preaching. Authors from the nineteenth century and earlier are cited, for example: William Perkins, John Broadus, and Charles Spurgeon. But Rueda also draws helpful insights from a number of more recent and lesser known books on preaching (lesser known, at least, to me).

Some of the letters I especially appreciated were Letter 8, on the great privilege of preaching, Letter 11, on preaching as shepherding, Letter 31, with its emphasis on Christ-centered preaching, Letter 32 on preaching as persuasion, and Letter 34, which highlighted the importance of expositional preaching that has a “single-pointed focus.” The encouragement to cultivate simplicity in preaching in Letter 36 was helpful as well.

Dear Preacher, was self-published by the author. A few of Rueda’s efforts to be clever didn’t work for me. Stylistically, the book might have benefited from an editor. Rueda describes the book’s format as “a cheap imitation of C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters.” Another reviewer, Jeff Riddle, has written, “When I read in the preface that the author was following the epistolary format of Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, I at first thought the voice of PulpitTape was going to be a demon giving ‘anti-advice’ for preaching, rather than a more angelic older self.” I had the same thought. I also found it puzzling that on page 153 Rueda listed The Witness of Preaching by Thomas Long, a textbook on preaching, as a book he would recommend for studying the history of preaching.

Those points aside, Dear Preacher, contains many helpful reminders and reflections on preaching. As mentioned above, it could serve as an enriching addition to a pastor’s devotional routine. Another valuable feature of the book is its bibliography, which lists over seventy books on preaching; the many quotations from these books whet one’s appetite for more of their contents and encourage further reading and study.

(I received a review copy of Dear Preacher, in exchange for my promise to write an honest review.)