John A. Broadus: A Living Legacy

Michael Haykin edits a series for Broadman & Holman called “Studies in Baptist Life and Thought.” The volume on John Broadus was just released in August, and my good friend Mark Overstreet has an essay in it titled “Now I Am Found: The Recovery of the ‘Lost’ Yale Lectures and Broadus’s Legacy of Engaging Exposition.” Other contributors include Timothy George, David Dockery, Richard Melick, and Tom Nettles.

John Broadus is a towering figure in the history of Southern Baptists. Charles Haddon Spurgeon called Broadus “the greatest of living preachers.” Broadus served as the second president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition,

“Broadus baptized Lottie Moon, who became Southern Baptist’s most famous overseas missionary. In the Civil War, Broadus preached before Confederate general Robert E. Lee and other Confederate generals, earning a standing invitation from Lee to preach for him. J. D. Rockefeller went further than Lee—he offered Broadus a hefty salary to become his pastor in New York City, an offer Broadus turned down. In 1886, on the 250th anniversary of Harvard University, the school conferred an honorary degree on Broadus due to his national academic reputation. In 1889, Yale University invited the professor to New Haven to deliver the Lyman Beecher Lectures on preaching. Broadus was the only Southern Baptist to address the Ivy League school in a series of talks” (Source: SBTS Archives).

It would be difficult to overstate the legacy of Broadus among the Baptists. This is a welcome volume, and I look forward to reading it.

John A. Broadus: A Living Legacy, ed. David S. Dockery and Roger D. Duke (Broadman & Holman, 2008).

(HT: Ray Van Neste)