I found the following summary by Steven Ingino of a portion of G. Campbell Morgan's book entitled
Preaching (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1937). Does anyone have a copy of this book who could share with us the exact quote regarding Morgan's preference toward exegetical commentaries rather than devotional commentaries?
The following quote is from
"Learning from Preachers of the Past: Lessons from John Chrysostom, Martin Luther, Phillips Brooks, and G. Campbell Morgan." By The Rev. Canon David Roseberry and Steven Ingino.
"Choose appropriate chunks of texts, preach the central idea, do not preach your conviction/ideas, preach the text or you lose authority, craft the message carefully with exposition of the text, illustrations, quotes, etc., read commentaries that give exegesis and give them priority over devotional works, be creative, and use your imagination to think of ways to present the Bible, stay away from allegorizing, have a clear outline in your head and make your divisions clear to the people." (emphasis mine)
From Morgan, G. Campbell.
Preaching. New York etc.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1937.
G. Campbell Morgan on Exegesis
Jason,
ReplyDeleteIn his chapter on “The Central Message” Morgan advises spending time with the text alone before reaching for any books. His personal rule was “never to turn to any commentary or any exegetical work on a text, until I have put in personal, firsthand work on that text alone. Then I take any aid I can, and I find that these aids often help me to correct mistakes I have made. But we have gained enormously if we have first sat down and toiled at the [t]ext” (Preaching, pp. 63-64).
Then Morgan tells us what helps he turns to first: “I would rather have on my study shelf one book of scholarly exegesis than forty volumes of devotional exposition. Exposition in the sense of devotional application is very, very beautiful, but from the standpoint of sermon-making I would rather have Westcott on John than all the devotional books on that Gospel that I have ever seen” (p. 64). This would include his own fine exposition of John.
If I remember correctly, Morgan gained his spade work skills during his two-year pastorate at a small country church early in his ministry. He really was a “man of the Word” who devoted himself to learning the skills he needed to effectively serve the Lord and accurately preach His Word.
Very good. Thanks for digging up that quote!
ReplyDeleteHi, so glad to see men of God enjoying the mentoring of G. Campbell Morgan, my husband, also a pastor has almost all of his books.
ReplyDeleteI have just written a post at my website where I quote from Morgans booklet, "The Music of Life" a wonderful read about the human life span written in musical parellel. We cried when we read it together.
Blessing to you all. Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse
http://thesingingnurse.com/meeting-of-the-two-year-old-mind/