In this book, Jay Adams does an excellent job of advocating purposeful preaching; he rightly portrays the alternative as a deadly practice of obscuring truth. His description of finding the telos, or end, of a passage of scripture to determine its chief meaning is right on target and could help any pastor keep his preaching on track.

However, the value of this book is damaged by Adams' arguments. The problem is not what he says, but rather how he says it. Adams attacks anyone and everyone he can get his hands on, from today's preachers to professors in academic institutions to the churchgoing public and more. While he has a right to criticize what he sees as wrong, the aggressiveness with which he criticizes reduces his credibility.

Adams also has a bad habit of quoting himself. Not that a writer should not make reference to his other works, but Adams frequently quotes himself when he could just as easily and more forcefully refer to the works of others. This habit sometimes makes him sound arrogant and unread.

Don't get me wrong - this is a solid book, and Adams has many good things to say about the weight and purpose of preaching. Any preacher should digest what Adams has to say. But when you read this book, be warned: Some of those razorblades are sharp.

Adams, a propenent of "nouthetic" counselling, applies Biblical principles to the urgent task of preaching the Word. He issues forth the call for purposeful preaching, in which the "telos" of the passage of Scripture in question is sought out, applied, and implemented through creative textual preaching. Topics such as the preacher's stance, outline, introductions, conclusions, invitations, illustrations, counselling, and application are covered. Adams may be overly critical of the traditional scholastic method of preaching (embodied by the English Puritans) and the one gaping hole of the book is the lack of emphasis on prayer and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but there are some invaluable principles to be gleaned as well. Of great help was the chapter on "Gathering Storytelling Materials", where Adams gives a plan by which to learn how to illustrate starting in your study. He claims that six months worth of preaching illustrations are to be found in the normal study! Also of interest is his idea of a six-month preaching plan. Some good books to balance this one are Preaching and Preachers by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper.

Like Pee Wee Herman, you either love Jay Adams or hate him. He (Adams) never backs away from a fight, and never hesitates to state his case with force and assurance. Thankfully, these qualities make "Preaching With Purpose" a delightful book. Adams cuts through the padding found in so many homiletics texts and serves the prime rib sans gluey gravy. The title pretty much gives the book away (as a good title should): Adams expects you to learn to find the God-given purpose ("telos" in Greek) in every text. Purpose is not just for your choice of verses however; it extends to your gestures, illustrations, etc. This "telic" purpose of preaching immediately eliminates much of the rambling and sidebars that obscure the plain message of the Gospel, much like Adams' compact style eliminates much of the wasted ink in many preaching textbooks. In 162 pages (including the index) he covers everything from choice of text to style of delivery. The section on finding illustrations (hint: he doesn't like books of illustrations, so you won't find any recommended titles here...) is alone worth the price of the book! I have yet to see a preacher who couldn't benefit from continued study of homiletics. Why not start here?

Jay Edward Adams has the right heart when he "wrote" a book on the meaning and mode of baptism, but its not that good. The Book is pretty much nothing but quotes from other theologens and it seems that is all the book stand on. (In other words it seems more like Jay Edwards Adams believed more about what he was told and read in other books than from his own study of the subject.) Secondly, there are many holes in several arguments that are brought up in the book (some logical, some theological, and some historical.) For example: Adams argues that Christians could not immerse 3000+ inductees on pentacost because of the lack of available water (he does have a quotes that agree with him). Unfortunately this is so inaccurate that writers like John Murray when arguing against immersion wouldn't even talk about the subject.

This book is a typical study on the Calvinistic view of baptism, and contains some quotes of other writers that could be of use. But for a more thorough and accurate study on the the Calvinistic view of baptism I would highly recommend John Murray's Christian Baptism, or for baptism in general G. R. Beasly Murray.

Don't be deceived by the comments of the other review. Adams' book does indeed contain many quotations from numerous authors - some quite long - but Adams only does this because he can't improve upon the way the originals put it themselves.
If you're interested in the topic as I am, you'll find this book to be very convincing for the argument against immersion as the legitimate mode of baptism (at least I did).
There are a few reasons why you should buy this book. It's
(1) inexpensive
(2) short
(3) an easy read
(4) contains numerous other sources for further study
(5) a convincing argument against immersion
(6) good at highlighting the importance of the topic (answers the question, "Who cares, anyway!?")

This book is certainly not the end-all of the immersion/aspersion-affusion debate, but it is a helpful tool to introducing the problems with the immersionist view while showing the importance of the debate itself. The mode by itself is not at the heart of the debate, but the meaning which the mode portrays.