The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys

317 Pages·2010·1.87 MB·English

by  Mark A. Noll

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A History of Evangelicalism
People, movements and ideas in the english-speaking world
V O L U M E 1
The Rise of
E vangelicalism
The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys
Mark A. Noll
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InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com
E-mail: [email protected]
©2003 by Mark A. Noll
Published in the United States of America by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, with permission from Universities
and Colleges Christian Fellowship.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.
InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a movement of students
and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and
a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional
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Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at <www.intervarsity.org>.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®.
NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton
Ltd. All rights reserved. “NIV” is a registered trademark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.
Distributed in North America by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Cover design: Cindy Kiple
Cover image: View of St. John’s Church by Virginia Hampton, from the Robert Knox Sneden Diary/Virginia Historical
Society, Richmond, Virginia, USA/Bridgeman Images.
ISBN 978-0-8308-9988-3 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-3891-2 (print)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments 
Abbreviations and short titles 
Introduction 
. Landscapes:political,ecclesiastical,spiritual 
. Antecedents,stirrings 
. Revival,– 
. Revival,fragmentation,consolidation,– 
. Explanations 
. Development,– 
. Diversification,– 
. In the world 
. True religion 
Afterword 
Select bibliography 
Index 
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To
W. R. Ward
John Walsh
David Hempton
Bruce Hindmarsh
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank audiences at several institutions for the privilege of
trying out different parts of this book as lectures and for the stimulating
exchanges that resulted:Bethel College,Kansas (with Keith Sprunger and Jim
Juhnke); the Newberry Library, Chicago; Regent College, Vancouver (with
Thena Ayres and Marilyn Hoeppner);Tyndale College and Seminary,Toronto
(with JeffGreenham and Brian Stiller);and the Wheaton College faculty (with
Mark Husbands and Tim Larsen). Students in seminars at the Harvard
Divinity School, the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and
Wheaton College likewise listened patiently,researched eagerly and conversed
intelligently on the themes of this book.
By introducing me to the serious study of evangelicalism in Canada and by
assiduously building bridges among historians from throughout the world,
my late friend George Rawlyk has been a constant inspiration in work on
this project. One of George’s younger friends, Mark Hutchinson of Sydney,
Australia, was especially helpful with encouragement and books. Another
friend, David Hempton, kindly provided a reading of Chapter . For unusu-
ally helpful work as a graduate assistant, I am pleased to thank Luke Harlow.
The network of historians connected by Wheaton College’s Institute for the
Study of American Evangelicals has continued to offer friendship,encourage-
ment and instruction in nearly equal measure. In different forms, the same is
true of my family.
David Bebbington and Bruce Hindmarsh not only read complete drafts of
the manuscript with sympathy, but also added perspective, shared biblio-
graphy and challenged interpretations in the most helpful way imaginable.
Finally,I am pleased to acknowledge singular historical inspiration by dedi-
cating this book to four scholars whose innovative research,precise prose and
judicious judgments have undergirded its writing from first to last. Mistakes
remain all mine;insights come mostly from them.
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ABBREVIATIONS AND SHORT TITLES
BDEB The Blackwell Dictionary of Evangelical Biography,
–,vols.Donald M.Lewis (ed.) (Oxford:
Blackwell,).
Bebbington,Evangelicalism D.W.Bebbington,Evangelicalism in Modern
Britain: A History from the s to the s
(London:Unwin Hyman,).
Ch.Wesley,Reader Charles Wesley: A Reader,John R.Tyson
(ed.)(New York:Oxford University Press,
).
Dallimore,Whitefield Dallimore,Arnold A.,George Whitefield: The Life
and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-
Century Revival,vols (Westchester:Cornerstone,
,).
DSCHT Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology,
Nigel M.de S.Cameron et al.(eds.) (Edinburgh:
T.& T.Clark;Downers Grove:InterVarsity,
).
Edwards,Works The Works of Jonathan Edwards,Perry Miller,John
E.Smith and Harry S.Stout (eds.) (New Haven:
Yale University Press,– ).
Evangelicalism Evangelicalism: Comparative Studies of Popular
Protestantism in North America, the British Isles, and
Beyond, –,Mark A.Noll,David W.
Bebbington and George A.Rawlyk (eds.) (New
York:Oxford University Press,).
Heitzenrater,Wesley Heitzenrater,Richard P.,Wesley and the People
Called Methodists(Nashville:Abingdon,).
Rack,Wesley Rack,Henry D.,Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley
and the Rise of Methodism(Philadelphia:Trinity,
).
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    
Tyerman,Wesley Tyerman,Luke,The Life and Times of the Rev. John
Wesley,vols,rd ed.(London:Hodder &
Stoughton,).
Tyerman,Whitefield Tyerman,Luke,The Life of the Rev. George
Whitefield,vols (London:Hodder & Stoughton,
).
Ward,Awakening Ward,W.R.,The Protestant Evangelical Awakening
(New York:Cambridge University Press,).
Watts,Dissenters Watts,Michael,The Dissenters,vol.:From the
Reformation to the French Revolution;vol.:The
Expansion of Evangelical Nonconformity, –
(Oxford:Clarendon,,).
Wesley,Journal The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley,vols,
Nehemiah Curnock (ed.) (London:Epworth,
[orig.–]).
Wesley,Letters The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley,vols,John
Telford (ed.) (London:Epworth,).
Wesley,Works(new) The Works of John Wesley,Bicentennial Edition,
Richard P.Heitzenrater and Frank Baker (eds.)
(Oxford:Oxford University Press,and
Nashville:Abingdon,– ).
Wesley,Works() The Works of John Wesley,vols,Thomas
Jackson (ed.) (London:Wesleyan Conference
Office,).
Whitefield,Journals George Whitefield’s Journals(London:Banner of
Truth,).