Top Preaching Tools & Resources That Belong in a Pastor’s Library

“In his classic work, The Christian Ministry, Charles Bridges opens his section on sermon composition with these words:

How much responsibility attaches itself to the subject matter and the mode of our pulpit addresses! It cannot be of light moment, whether our people are “fed with knowledge and understanding,” or with ill-prepared and unsuitable provision. The pulpit is the ordinary distribution of the bread of life for their daily nourishment, and much wisdom indeed is here required.1

Indeed, it is! Writing and delivering well-communicated, biblically faithful sermons demands our study and energy. But having the right tools can help us in that effort.

In this article, we’ll survey some of the best tools and resources available to preachers in the sermon-preparation process.”

Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Bible and Theological Dictionaries

This post is a re-blog of my post at Rolfing Unshelved.


This post is part of a series entitled Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools. This series seeks to provide one with an introduction to some key Biblical and theological reference tools. In this series one will find basic explanations, significant examples, and other information about these reference tools.


Basic Description of Dictionaries

Bible and theological dictionaries are reference tools that serve as an encyclopedia on a given topic or Biblical corpus. They include a plethora of articles (typically around 1-3 pages in length and arranged alphabetically) related to their topic or Biblical corpus.