Taking the premise that a person can learn to be a competent preacher, Father Edwards offers a step-by-step guide to the technical and emotional factors of preaching. He begins with the preparation of material, focusing on the event, and physical aspects such as stance, projection, position, etc., He moves on to discuss more complicated matters, such as how to keep one's material fresh and how to adjust the same material for different audiences.

Although written for the newly ordained, The Practical Preacher also belongs on the shelf of every "veteran" preacher.

"In my view, [Father Edward's] book will be of enormous help to clergy who have been many years in the ministry and who need to reflect and renew in their own lives their ministry of preaching the word of God."—Rt. Rev. Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, England.