Geoffrey Chang (B&H Publishing)
Geoffrey Chang serves as assistant professor of church history and historical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City. He also serves as curator of the Spurgeon Library on that campus. In itself, the Spurgeon Library represents a contradiction of another modern prophecy: that the famous preachers of the 19th century would recede into distant memory. This is certainly not the case, and especially not the case with Charles Spurgeon.
If anything, there is even more interest in Charles Spurgeon today than there was at the time of his own death. In this book, Chang offers a biographical treatment of Charles Spurgeon, which is thematic rather than explicitly chronological. He focuses upon Charles Spurgeon the pastor and, of course, gives attention to Spurgeon the creature. This book is immediately accessible, not overly long, and directly relevant on virtually every page to the pastor’s work.
“Simplicity in preaching was especially emphasized in the Pastor’s College. To cultivate this, Spurgeon urged them not to lose contact with the realities and challenges of life. Though traditional colleges tended to remove students from natural settings, Spurgeon’s students lived with families, remained active in church, interacted with people from all walks of life, and actively ministered while they studied. All of this was part of their education. The last thing Spurgeon wanted was to breed an artificiality in his students’ preaching.”