The Big Idea Companion for Preaching and Teaching

One of the most popular and powerful methods for preaching is the late Dr. Haddon Robinson's "Big Idea Preaching." It is simple in its basic concept and widely applicable in communications, especially in the area of preaching and teaching. This book essentially applies the Big Idea to the whole Bible. Most of the contributors, if not all of them, have benefitted from Robinson's teachings and have applied to all 66 books of the Bible. It can be the preaching version of the abridged commentary of the whole Bible. Taking each biblical book, contributors worked through chapters, pericopes, and selected segments to give us the key exegetical idea, the subject, and the complement for each of them. On top of that, each book would come with:

-  An introduction to the major idea of the whole book
-  Tips on how to divide the segments
-  Guidance through difficult passages
-  Cultural contexts
-  Recommended resources

This book helps preachers in at least three ways. First, it supplements preachers' own preparation. This helps preachers develop their big ideas that advocate, append, or augment their own big idea discoveries. Sometimes, preachers might wonder if there is another perspective in the passage concerned. With this book, we get a reputed resource from a trained and experienced teacher. Second, preachers often labour alone and they would appreciate a companion. This book serves as that companion or conversation partner. This is particularly useful when it comes to difficult texts in the Bible. Rather than to skip the difficult parts, this book challenges and help preachers work through them rather than to bypass them. Sometimes, preachers might wonder if their own exegesis and big ideas are in line with the overall theme of the book. This resource serves as a quick reference to help preachers stay within the contexts. Of course, the final say has to be the Holy Spirit speaking to the heart of the preacher. Third, with this companion, we would be encouraged to preach through the whole Bible. That means both the Old as well as the New Testament. It means the Prophets, both Major and Minor Prophets, and many more. Biblical preaching requires us to be ready to preach from Genesis to Revelation on a regular basis. Far too often, preachers have stayed within familiar passages because they didn't have the time to work through the more challenging books of the Bible. While it is understandable from a time and limited resource perspective, it would render the congregation impoverished. The whole Word of God needs to be preached and if this book could nudge more pastors and preachers to do that, it would have benefitted the Church. 

For readers familiar with the Big Idea, this book is a must-have resource. For students studying preaching, it will supplement the learning with many examples of developing better big ideas in our preaching. I remember when I first learned about the Big Idea from Dr Robinson himself, he gace numerous examples of how to identify and structure our subjects and complements. As a young student, I was scribbling notes copiously, and often wishing for a resource that could capture all the gems from the master preacher. I wish this book had been available for me then. 

For readers who are new to this Big Idea method, I would encourage them to read the classic "The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching" first before using this volume. Maybe, just buy both and get the best of both worlds!

Matthew D. Kim (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is the George F. Bennett Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology, director of the Haddon W. Robinson Center for Preaching, and director of Mentored Ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is a past president of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. He has over fifteen years of preaching and teaching experience and is the author of several books, including Preaching with Cultural Intelligence, the 2018 Preaching magazine Book of the Year.

Scott M. Gibson (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the David E. Garland Chair of Preaching and director of the PhD program in preaching at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, in Waco, Texas. He previously served as the Haddon W. Robinson Professor of Preaching and Ministry and director of the Center for Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Rating: 4.75 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

In 1953 Dr. Henrietta Mears published her well-known handbook, What the Bible is All About. Over the yesrs the book has been republished and edited using different translations. This book follows in that tradition, but rather than being aimed at laymen and Sunday School teachers, this book is aimed toward Sunday School teachers and Preachers. That being said, the book goes a bit deeper and stresses teaching and preaching points rather than skimming each book of the Bible. Rather than choosing to cover the entire Bible in 52 weeks, it suggests teaching and preaching outlines based on the text. For example, rather than devoting one week to Mark’s gospel, this book suggests dividing the Mark into “nearly fifty preaching and teaching passages”.

Each Biblical book’s review is assigned to a single author - though some authors have been assigned multiple books. With a single exception, all the individual authors have earned PhDs from reputable schools. The single exception is a PhD graduate student at Wheaton Graduate School. Having said that, none of the authors were previously known to this reviewer. They do, however, currently hold positions at well-known institutions (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, etc.).

Each book includes a brief introduction and then a paragraph or two on each preaching passage. Each preaching passage includes a sentence describing the passage’s “subject”, “complement”, “exegetical idea”, and “homiletical idea”. Each book’s entry concludes with three or four suggested resources that the reader may wish to consult for further study. I was disappointed that the entries did not include any suggested application points for each passage.

Though, for most preachers and teachers, the books are divided into too many teaching portions, the book will be one that many will want to keep handy for ideas and general planning. I give the book 4-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.