About the show

Back to the Pulpit reads the great sermons of the past aloud in clear modern English. Preachers like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon spoke to ordinary people in the everyday language of their day. Their words still carry, but the old English can get in the way. We render them in ours, so you can hear them the way their first listeners did.

How each sermon is made

We start from the original. Every sermon comes from a public-domain printing of the preacher's own text, and each episode page links to the original.

The meaning stays. The sermon is rewritten in clear modern English, keeping the original meaning, structure and theology as closely as possible. Hard truths are not softened, and nothing is added to make it more relatable: no modern applications, no new illustrations. The preacher's own images stay exactly as he gave them. Where the original is unclear, the passage is flagged so it can be checked before recording.

Scripture is quoted word for word from the English Standard Version. Where a preacher's point turns on the wording of the King James Bible he preached from, we read that line too.

The history is sourced. Each episode opens with a short history of the sermon: when and where it was preached, to whom, and what came of it. Every fact comes from a published source, and the sources are listed on each episode's page.

Support the show

Back to the Pulpit is made independently. If these sermons have helped you, you can help us make more.