Sermon Tone Analysis

Top Ten Greatest Preachers of 20th Century

Michael Duduit, Editor, Preaching

1)      James S. Stewart (1896-1990)

2)      Billy Graham (1918- )

3)      George Buttrick (1892-1980)

4)      Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

5)      Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969)

6)      Campbell Morgan (1863-1945)

7)      William Edwin Sangster (1900-1960)

8)      John R.W. Stott (1921- )

9)      D.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981)

10)   Clarence Macartney (1879-1957)

11)  Leslie Weatherhead

12)  George W. Truett

13)  R.G. Lee

14)  Norman Vincent Peale

15)  Peter Marshall

16)  E.

Stanley Jones

17)  Donald Grey Barnhouse

18)  Ralph Sockman

19)  W.A. Criswell

20)  Gardner C. Taylor

 

The past year has produced an avalanche of "best of the century" and "best of the millennium" stories and listings in the media.

From the 100 most important events of the century to the 50 best entertainers to the 25 best athletes, it seems that there is a list for every interest.

Such listings are more than speculative fancies.

A historical rarity such as the event we are about to face on December 31 offers a prime opportunity to look back and consider those persons who have made such a difference in our lives and in our world.

Thus it is with preaching.

As a way to celebrate the end of a century and the start of a new millennium -- and to celebrate the committed Christian preachers who have so influenced our calling and our faith communities -- Preaching magazine undertook an effort to identify the great preachers of our century and of the past thousand years.

The search began with a request to our readers to nominate their own favorites.

The result was hundreds of nominations of preachers who have made an impact beyond the lives of their own churches.

Among the outstanding preachers who were nominated were names like F.W. Boreham, Oswald Hoffman, Walter Maier, John Maxwell, Harold John Ockenga, Fulton Sheen, and many more.

Based on those nominations, a list of 27 names was prepared and sent to Preaching's Board of Contributing Editors.

That group was invited to identify and rank (1-10) their own list of the century's great preachers; they also had an opportunity to suggest names which had not been included on the original list.

Their rankings were then tallied according to the rankings made by the contributing editors (giving increased weight based on the higher rankings) and the number of times a person was listed in each editor's "top ten."

The result is in the list provided below.

For those who are interested in the names that didn't quite make the top ten, here's the "second ten" in the order they were ranked:

11.

Leslie Weatherhead

12. George W. Truett

13.

R.G. Lee

14.

Norman Vincent Peale

15.

Peter Marshall

16.

E. Stanley Jones

17.

Donald Grey Barnhouse

18. Ralph Sockman

19.

W.A. Criswell

20.

Gardner C. Taylor

What makes a preacher "great"?

For purposes of this listing, the primary characteristic seems to be the influence that preacher had on the church and on the wider society.

For example, while several persons commented that they would not be supportive of many of his theological positions, they could not deny the powerful influence Harry Emerson Fosdick exerted on the character of preaching in the modern era.

It is almost certain that no reader would identify the exact same ten preachers in making his or her own list; even given the same list of names, the order in which they appeared would vary widely from person to person.

Yet one thing cannot be denied: every person on the list below has made a significant impact on countless lives, on the church, and on their fellow preachers.

1. James S. Stewart (1896-1990)

Most readers will be surprised that Stewart's name appears at the top of such a list, though few would deny he belongs in this distinguished company.

The gifted Scottish preacher taught New Testament at the University of Edinburgh, was Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland, and served in 1963-1964 as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Stewart was committed to expository preaching, and preached with an earnestness and energy that was warmly received by his listeners.

Much of Stewart's influence on American preaching was through his writing and lectures.

His books such as Heralds of God (the published version of his Warrack Lectures at Edinburgh) and A Faith to Proclaim (the published version of his Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching at Yale) have inspired tens of thousands of preachers to strive for greater effectiveness in their proclamation of God's Word.

As Stewart challenged in A Faith to Proclaim:

"'I, yet not I, but Christ.'

To be thus taken command of, so that our testimony, when we go out to speak of Christ, is not ours at all, but Christ's self-testimony -- this is our vocation and the hope of our ministry.

It is God's great promise and demand to every preacher of the Word.

Here, in all reverence and humility, the disciple may take upon his lips the saying of his Lord: 'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.'"

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"Born in 1893, the son of a popular Bible teacher in the YMCA movement, James Stewart was an acclaimed preacher both in his native Scotland and also in America.

He served as Pastor of three Church of Scotland congregations, and then joined the faculty of New College, the divinity school of the University of Edinburgh.

Though I never had the privilege of hearing Stewart preach in person, I have listened, spell-bound, to some taped sermons, and have underlined many a memorable statement in those I have read in my library.

He was a preacher's preacher, possessing gifts most of us can only dream of.

I appreciate his ministry for many reasons -- his sermons were thorough-ly biblical (he argued persuasively for expository preaching), erudite without being stuffy, eloquent though not ornate, moving but not cheaply emotional, eminently practical, often conscience-piercing, and above all, God-exalting.

Yet the thing I appreciate most is his commitment to the mandate of world evangelization.

In his own preaching he did not hesitate to call men and women to personal faith in Christ, and he challenged his students and others to do the work of the evangelist.

In his Beecher Lectures in 1953 he declared with characteristic directness, that there is "no place today for a Church that is not aflame with the Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life, nor any value in a theology which is not passionately missionary" (A Faith to Proclaim, p.12).

In an earlier book consisting of lectures on preaching originally given to his students, he wrote that "no Church is anything more than a pathetic pietistic backwater unless it is first and fundamentally and all the time a world missionary Church" (Heralds of God, p. 30).

(William Hogan, Professor Emeritus of Preaching, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS)

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2. Billy Graham (1918- )

A dynamic preacher and evangelist, Billy Graham -- through the televising of mass crusades -- has proclaimed the gospel to more persons than any other preacher in history.

In the process, Graham has become a "national chaplain" for Americans and a world citizen and ambassador for Christ.

Graham's preaching is simple and straightforward, filled with illustrations drawn from the day's headlines.

And each sermon is focused intently on a single purpose: to draw men and women to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Over a ministry about to enter its seventh decade, God has blessed Graham's preaching and has used his faithfulness and integrity to draw hundreds of thousands to respond to the call of Christ.

Through his long life and ministry, Graham has built a remarkable organization which today reaches far beyond sponsoring mass evangelistic crusades.

Through television and movies, radio, books and magazines, and a network of related activities, this anointed preacher has faithfully proclaimed Christ across America and around the globe.

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"The numbers speak of greatness and complexity.

He has preached in person to more people than any human being who has ever lived.

While his pulpit started in white-frame churches, trailer parks, and circus tents it rapidly moved to cathedrals, stadiums, and other arenas which are among the world's largest public gathering places.

He's been called "America's Pastor" and has ministered personally to several American presidents.

Over 100 million people have listened to his sermons.

Almost 3 million of those people have responded to his famous "invitations."

But when all is said and done, Billy Graham is just a simple man with a simple message.

Raised on a North Carolina dairy farm, Graham's pious parents were old-fashioned enough to believe in corporal punishment, mandatory daily Bible readings, and regular lectures on clean living.

And while numerous icons of morality have come and gone, for 50 years Graham has endured both criticism and applause with humility, integrity, and genuineness.

Simplicity truly characterizes his message.

Through all the accolades he has presented a strong Christianity with a big God, a loving Savior, a hot hell, and a glorious heaven.

Yet his message has remained incredibly simple: every person is sinful before God, a predicament that can turn to forgiveness only through faith in Jesus Christ.

He has communicated it through simple phrases like "The Bible says . .

." and "You must be born again" that have riveted themselves into our hearts and minds.

His delivery has been even more simple, characterized by crispness and clarity that even the youngest of listeners is able to grasp.

Thank God for a preacher who takes Jesus at His Word.

Thank God for a simple preacher.

Thank God for Billy Graham."