F. W. Boreham — the preacher who wrote in essays
Frank William Boreham (1871–1959) was a Baptist minister and one of the most widely read Christian essayists of his generation. He was a man who turned the sermon into literature and the single Bible verse into a window on a whole life.
A life across the world
Boreham was born on March 3, 1871, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, and was pointed to Christ early by believing parents who gave him a lasting love of reading. He preached his first sermon at seventeen and, around the age of twenty, published his first book, The Whisper of God.
His ministry carried him across the world: years in Mosgiel, New Zealand, then to Hobart, Tasmania, and finally to Armadale in Melbourne, Australia. From these far corners his writing reached an international audience far larger than his pulpits ever could.
A singular output
Boreham’s industry was extraordinary. He wrote some fifty books of sermons and essays, and for 47 years, from 1912 until his death in 1959, contributed a weekly editorial to the Hobart Mercury, amassing around three thousand of them. His reputation was such that a moderator of the Church of Scotland once introduced him as “the man whose name is on all our lips, whose books are on all our shelves, and whose illustrations are in all our sermons.” In 1959, the year he died, the young Billy Graham made a point of visiting him.
I have collected many of Boreham’s books and I value them greatly. While reading each essay, I have felt that I’ve been listening to a trusted friend and learning from the wisdom he gained by his time spent with God and listening to others as well. In today’s world, what Christian couldn’t do with another trusted friend?
“Texts that made history”
Boreham is best remembered for a series of essay collections. Perhaps the most popular is A Bunch of Everlastings (1920). This work was built on a simple, brilliant idea: take the one verse of Scripture that proved decisive in a famous life, and tell that life around it. Luther’s text, Cowper’s text, Livingstone’s text, and many more. Each essay traced how a single line of the Bible became the hinge of a human story.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” — Romans 10:17 (KJV)
Why his life teaches
- The word, applied to a life. Boreham’s whole method insists that Scripture is not abstract — it lands on real people and turns them.
- Faithful craft over decades. His witness was the long, steady labor of writing well, week after week, for nearly half a century.
- Teaching through story. He showed that careful teaching and vivid storytelling are not rivals; the best of both exalts the text.
If you have never read him, A Bunch of Everlastings is the place to begin. Just starting out with Boreham? I’m jealous. You’re in for a real treat.