The word-wide impact of evangelicalism has long been recognized as a vital force. Providing both a clear and accessible guide to the recent literature, this introduction examines the revival in the British Isles during the 18th and 19th-century within a broadly international context. By investigating the nature of the revival and emphasizing its link with popular culture, this analysis explores the centrality of religion in this period. Posing questions such a "how far was the revival a threat to order?" And "what was its influence on society?" This work provides an introduction to the topic for all A-level and undergraduate students of 18th and 19th-century British history.

The church of the eighteenth century was still reeling in the wake of the huge religious upheavals of the two previous centuries. Though this was a comparatively quiet period, this book shows that for the whole period, religion was a major factor in the lives of virtually everybody living in Britain and Ireland. Yates argues that the established churches, Anglican in England, Irelandand Wales, and Presbyterian in Scotland, were an integral part of the British constitution, an arrangement staunchly defended by churchmen and politicians alike. The book also argues that, although there was a close relationship between church and state in this period, there was also limited recognition of other religions. This led to Britain becoming a diverse religious society much earlier than most other parts of Europe. During the same period competition between different religious groups encouraged ecclesiastical reforms throughout all the different churches in Britain.

David Hempton's history of the vibrant period between 1650 and 1832 engages with a truly global story: that of Christianity not only in Europe and North America, but also in Latin America, Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe, India, China, and South-East Asia. Examining eighteenth-century religious thought in its sophisticated national and social contexts, the author relates the narrative of the Church to the rise of religious enthusiasm pioneered by Pietists, Methodists, Evangelicals and Revivalists, and by important leaders like August Hermann Francke, Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. He places special emphasis on attempts by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and British seaborne powers to export imperial conquest, commerce and Christianity to all corners of the planet. This leads to discussion of the significance of Catholic and Protestant missions, including those of the Jesuits, Moravians and Methodists. Particular attention is given to Christianity's impact on the African slave populations of the Caribbean Islands and the American colonies, which created one of the most enduring religious cultures in the modern world. Throughout the volume changes in Christian belief and practice are related to wider social trends, including rapid urban growth, the early stages of industrialization, the spread of literacy, and the changing social construction of gender, families and identities.

Lay Activism and the High Church Movement of the Late Eighteenth Century: The Life and Thought of William Stevens, 1732-1807, by Robert M. Andrews, is the first full-length study of Stevens’ life and thought. Historiographically revisionist and contextualised within a neglected history of lay High Church activism, Andrews presents Stevens as an influential High Church layman who brought to Anglicanism not only his piety and theological learning, but his wealth and business acumen. With extensive social links to numerous High Church figures in late Georgian Britain, Stevens’ lay activism is shown to be central to the achievements and effectiveness of the wider High Church movement during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Dr Hindmarsh draws upon extensive archival and antiquarian sources to provide a serious, scholarly consideration of the life and religious thought of John Newton (1725-1807). In addition, he uses the theme of Newton as a 'sort of middle man' to explore the religious understanding of a whole generation who knew themselves as 'evangelical' although this was different from those who later adopted the term as a badge of partisan loyalty. The author shows how Newton is related to other Church of England evangelicals, Methodists, and various Dissenting bodies, and how his life sheds light on little explored aspects of the Evangelical Revival which contribute to an understanding and reassessment of the eighteenth-century church. In addition to discussion of themes in historical theology, pastoralia, and spirituality, an analysis of conversion narrative, the familiar letter, and hymnody contribute to an understanding of the relationship between religion and culture more generally.

The central axiom of Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century is that the classroom functions as a site for research and collaboration: not only as a space that reflects the research of individual teacher-scholars, but as a generative site to put ideas, theories, and methodologies into play. Whereas transatlanticism has transformed research practices over the last decade, the present collection is concerned with exploring what this transformation looks like in the classroom, and how the classroom continues to shape research practices in the field. Contributors address issues such as how the traffic in ideas, people, and commodities between Europe, Africa, and the New World are considered in classroom settings; how inter- and intra-departmental collaborations reshape our approaches to teaching the eighteenth century; how and why Transatlantic Studies can function as an introduction to college study; and how it can help more advanced students to revise their notions of nation, place, and identity. By now, there are a number of anthologies available to help instructors determine what transatlantic material to teach, but none that engage why and how to teach it, or what teaching it can do for us, our students, and our profession. Rather than simply providing reading lists or a collection of anecdotes about lesson plans, Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century emphasizes theorizing critical engagements with, interdisciplinary focus on, and the transformative potential of Transatlantic Studies. The primary market for Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century is university, college, and community college professors, researchers, and students, with three specific subgroups: 1. Teachers new to Transatlantic Studies Teachers coming to Transatlantic Studies for the first time will find both suggestions for materials or topical units to be integrated into existing courses (e.g., a unit on transatlantic exchange that could figure in an eighteenth-century literature survey course) and ideas for developing new courses altogether. 2. Teachers already teaching and/or researching in the field of Transatlantic Studies Such scholars will find material to broaden their approach to familiar courses and subjects: inter- or cross-disciplinary focus, new texts, successful clusterings of texts or themes or approaches, and ideas for team-teaching or linking courses with other faculty. 3. Teachers involved in Transatlantic Studies programs, especially those that focus on contemporary/Post WWII context (e.g., at the University of Dundee, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, and the University of Birmingham) Teaching the Transatlantic Eighteenth Century will provide historical context for current geopolitical studies: perspective on the dynamics and historical and political forces occurring in the eighteenth century and contributing to 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century politics, nations, and paradigms.

Modern churchgoers often find the reality of original sin inconvenient. Of course, people acknowledge remorse and personal guilt as a present reality, but these feelings are hurriedly suppressed. Most people assume that they are basically good and innately innocent, but the Bible, history, and society's current situation demonstrate otherwise, and the church needs to hear preaching that includes the biblical diagnosis. Conviction of sin can hurt deeply and collides with prevailing norms, but it is meant to drive sinners to the only remedy available--Jesus. This book is an invitation to revisit the doctrines of sin and salvation as they impact daily life. It is an unvarnished look at the Bible and a period in history when preaching fostered a sense of need in the general population, resulting in awakenings and large revivals. Today, serious Christians are invited to pause and take a long look at the state of the church and their own hearts.

Statues of Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone grace downtown Hartford, Connecticut, but few residents are aware of the distinctive version of Puritanism that these founding ministers of Harford's First Church carried into to the Connecticut wilderness (or indeed that the city takes its name from Stone's English birthplace). Shaped by interpretations of the writings of Saint Augustine largely developed during the ministers' years at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Hartford's church order diverged in significant ways from its counterpart in the churches of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hartford Puritanism argues for a new paradigm of New England Puritanism. Hartford's founding ministers, Baird Tipson shows, both fully embraced - and even harshened - Calvin's double predestination. Tipson explores the contributions of the lesser-known William Perkins, Alexander Richardson, and John Rogers to Thomas Hooker's thought and practice: the art and content of his preaching, as well as his determination to define and impose a distinctive notion of conversion on his hearers. The book draws heavily on Samuel Stone's The Whole Body of Divinity, a comprehensive exposition of his thought and the first systematic theology written in the American colonies. Virtually unknown today, The Whole Body of Divinity not only provides the indispensable intellectual context for the religious development of early Connecticut but also offers a more comprehensive description of the Puritanism of early New England than any other document.