Because he believed in the importance of preaching in our age, the author wrote this book "to be read by every Protestant desirous of deepening his acquaintance with the goal, power, and relevance of preaching; to permit him to profit as much as possible from this preaching; to help him, layman or preacher, become conscious of his own personal responsibility in the preaching as a means of grace and the content, relevance, and characteristics of good preaching.