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3.5
Tethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of Charles H. Spurgeon
ByPublisher Description
"Tethered to the cross" is how the renowned nineteenth-century English Baptist minister Charles H. Spurgeon (1834–1892) described the task of ministry and his approach to preaching. For nearly four decades, Spurgeon served as the pastor of the church at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. But what specifically guided the reading of Scripture by the man known as the "Prince of Preachers"? Tracing the development of Spurgeon's thought and his approach to biblical hermeneutics throughout his ministry, theologian and historian Thomas Breimaier argues that Spurgeon viewed the entire Bible through the lens of the cross of Christ. This method led Spurgeon to interpret texts in a consistent fashion, resulting in sermons, articles, and instruction that employed cross-centered language, which was aimed at the conversion of unbelievers. With Breimaier as our guide, better understanding of how Spurgeon approached the task of interpreting Scripture and preaching the gospel might enable us, too, to be tethered to the cross of Christ.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesTethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of Charles H. Spurgeon Reviews
3.5
“In his book Tethered to the Cross, Thomas Breimaier lays out the life and ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1834-1892. Breimaier’s thesis for this work is “to identify and analyze C. H. Spurgeon’s approach to biblical hermeneutics. It will argue that Spurgeon, one of the most renowned preachers of his era, viewed the entire Bible through the lens of the cross of Christ, with an aim to bring about the conversion of sinners.” To help prove his thesis, Breimaier uses many contemporary sources to Spurgeon as well as several historically focused academic works based around either Spurgeon himself or the various affiliations or controversies in which Spurgeon found himself during his ministry. Breimaier also provides an extremely detailed and helpful bibliography at the end of his book. Breimaier spends the bulk of his time demonstrating how everything Spurgeon did in the wide breadth of his ministry, which spanned from pastoral ministry and running a college, to authoring books, and managing his publication The Sword & Trowel, centered around the “overarching themes of crucicentrism and conversionism.”
Breimaier’s book is structured mainly in a chronological style, with some variations due to overlapping subject matter. The first two chapters deal with “Spurgeon’s childhood and early theological education” and “the first twenty years of his ministry in London.” The following four chapters, while remaining largely chronological, each focus on a specific aspect of Spurgeon’s theological understanding or an element of one of the ministries he founded and ran. Breimaier then concludes his work with a summation of Spurgeon’s life and the effectiveness of his ministry, as well as a brief mention of Spurgeon's final days, death, and burial. Breimaier then closes with a look at Spurgeon’s strengths and weaknesses in both his hermeneutical outlook and his evangelistic and educational endeavors.
One of the key aspects of Spurgeon’s life that can be viewed both positively and negatively that Breimaier focused upon was Spurgeons crucicentric and conversionistic hermeneutical lens, noting that “This priority occasionally led Spurgeon to interpret texts in a manner that bypassed the immediate context in favor of an approach that achieved his goal of preaching a crucified Christ and a free offer of the gospel.” A reviewer at Publishers Weekly rightly points out that Spurgeon “became dedicated…to the conversion of his listeners or readers through an emphasis on the truth of the Holy Spirit and the substitutionary atonement which had taken place at the crucifixion.” This is not to say that Breimaier paints Spurgeon as one-dimensional, quite the opposite in fact, as Dr. Aaron Lumpkin notes that, “Breimaier demonstrates the robust nature of Spurgeon’s engagement with the Bible.”
It is the opinion of this author that Breimaier achieved the goals he set out to demonstrate in this look into the ministry of C. H. Spurgeon in this work about the pastor, theologian, or, as Spurgeon may prefer, tool for God’s use in the conversion of souls. Because of this, this author can wholeheartedly recommend this work by Breimaier. However, it should be noted who exactly this work is written for and for whom it is not. This work is not for someone who is looking for a detailed biographical look into the life of Spurgeon, especially that of his early life. However, this book is a wonderful overview of Spurgeon’s varied ministries and their diversity, as well as a glimpse into the theological understanding of the Victorian era Christian leader, as well as the crucicentric and conversionistic hermeneutic he implemented into nearly all of his lectures, sermons, articles, and reviews.
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Works Cited
Breimaier, Thomas. Tethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of Charles H. Spurgeon. IVP Academic, 2020.
Lumpkin, Aaron. “Want to Be Like Spurgeon? Stay Tethered to the Cross.” The Gospel Coalition, November 2, 2023. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews tethered-cross- spurgeon/, Accessed November 29, 2025.
The Publishers weekly. “Tethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of Charles H. Spurgeon.” PWxyz, LLC, 2020”
“There are two major types of biographies. Academic and popular. This book starts off right away telling us that the only academic biography was a college dissertation, and the author means to correct that by putting another out there. He goes on to say that the purpose of this book is to show how Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, only preached with a conversionalistic and crucicentric style.
My question is, Who cares?…
I thought Tethered to the Cross was an amazing title, and Spurgeon is always an interesting character in history. I mean, there’s a reason why he’s called The Prince of Preachers. Why dull that down with analyzing his sermon method alone?
Even academic biographies can be interesting, if albeit boring. This however, has the displeasure of only being the latter.”
“A very interesting and thorough study of Spurgeon's preaching (as well as writing and teaching). Spurgeon was not an expositional preacher. He used the literal sense of the text as a springboard into crucicentricity for the sake of converting his hearers. In that way, he almost seems to reinvent the medieval fourfold exegetical method (at least in that he springs from the literal sense to other senses), but in a distinctly evangelical way.”
“This is a very scholarly analysis of the curicentric and convertionistic focus of Charles Spurgeon's ministry. From his 3000+ sermons to his magazine and other written works as well as his educational endeavors. I enjoyed certain parts and found others to drag quite a bit. Frankly I think it is not advisable to read this if you don't already have a basic knowledge of Spurgeon's life.”
“Excellent. The subtitle is a little deceiving as it’s not about Spurgeon’s life—it’s mostly just an analysis of his preaching. But it did a great job analyzing Spurgeon’s approach to preaching. Definitely helped better shape my view of preaching.”
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