The Expansion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and Finney

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InterVarsity Press, May 17, 2007 - Religion - 280 pages

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the village of Clapham in Surrey still enjoyed a sense of distance from the bustle of London. There the group of evangelicals who would come to be known as the Clapham Sect regularly gathered. William Wilberforce, leader of a long campaign against the slave trade, commiserated with the other inheritors of the fledgling British evangelical movement, now in its second, more politically and culturally savvy generation. Meanwhile, evangelicalism had also taken root in much harsher social and geographical landscapes, where it was witness to much more rough-edged expressions of Christian conviction. In the bleak industrial valleys of northern England, in the mining and fishing villages of Cornwall, and on the expanding American frontier, a period of intense revivalism was leading to the rapid expansion of Methodism and other forms of popular evangelicalism. It shaped a spirituality that emphasized the transience of this world and the reality of the Christian's true security in heaven. In The Expansion of Evangelicalism John Wolffe provides an authoritative account of evangelicalism from the 1790s to the 1840s. Making extensive use of primary sources, Wolffe skillfully balances British and American developments, and also discusses Canada, Australia, the West Indies and other regions. He covers aspects of the movement such as spirituality and worship; the place of evangelicalism in the lives of women, men and the family; and its broader social and political effects--giving particular attention to the question of slavery. Volume two in the acclaimed series, A History of Evangelicalism, this richly detailed, compelling book will excite history buffs, students and professors, and any reader interested in the development of evangelicalism.

 

Contents

Contents
5
Landscapes and Personalities 11
11
2Revivals and Revivalism 17901820 45
45
New Measures Revivals 18201850 71
71
Spirituality and Worship 95
95
5Women Men and the Family 126
126
6Transforming Society 159
159
Freeing Slaves Saving Nations 193
193
8Diversity and Unity in the Expansion of Evangelicalism 228
228
Select Bibliography 248
248
Index 273
273
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About the author (2007)

John Wolffe is professor of religious history at The Open University in England. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including The Protestant Crusade in Great Britain 1829-1869, God and Greater Britain: Religion and National Life in Britain and Ireland 1845-1945, Great Deaths: Grieving, Religion and Nationhood in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, and Evangelical Faith and Public Zeal.

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