Simple and Straightforward: Martin Luther on Preaching

According to Fred Meuser, Martin Luther was well liked as a preacher. He “spoke slowly but with great vigor and often had a moving effect upon the hearers.” Given what we know about his convictions, it would be hard to imagine that Luther’s preaching was dull and devoid of rhetorical passion. It is equally hard to fathom, then, that Luther felt the need to chastise some who did not listen well, saying that some fell asleep and some even snored during the sermon, adding that they sometimes coughed whenever he preached on justification, only to wake up again whenever he told a story. Times do not seem to have changed. All the more reason, then, for the Reformer to keep his sermons relatively simple and straightforward. Read More