The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement
From the dawn of their movement in the eighteenth century, evangelicals composed narratives of the revivals that were drawing in large numbers of new converts. As evangelicals continued to write about the achievements of their heroes at home and abroad, tensions between their theological purposes and the historical nature of their writings began to emerge, particularly as history developed into a professional academic discipline. Words praising the Lord’s doings in the past might seem out of place in scholarly discourse. Non-evangelicals, recognizing the importance of the movement, added to the problem by discussing it without reference to divine involvement. Theology and history found themselves opposed to one another in accounts of the evangelical past. Was the evangelical movement to be seen as an expression of divine activity or of human culture? If it was to be seen as both, how was its Christian content related to its contexts?

The Gospel in the Past brings together eleven scholars of evangelical theology and history seeking to answer questions such as these within evangelical historiography. Part 1 focuses on the historiography of selected evangelical themes and topics, such as eschatology, evangelical women, and responses to C. S. Lewis. Part 2 focuses on evangelical historiography within particular countries, such as Wales and Australia, and within particular denominations, such as Anglicanism.

Each of the essays touches to a greater or lesser extent on the contrast between traditional evangelical approaches to history and more recent ones shaped by the expectations of the academy. Engaging both sides of this lively divide, The Gospel in the Past is an accessible guide to the historiography of the evangelical movement with a focus on analyzing and beginning to resolve some of the tensions within the discipline.

1146227421
The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement
From the dawn of their movement in the eighteenth century, evangelicals composed narratives of the revivals that were drawing in large numbers of new converts. As evangelicals continued to write about the achievements of their heroes at home and abroad, tensions between their theological purposes and the historical nature of their writings began to emerge, particularly as history developed into a professional academic discipline. Words praising the Lord’s doings in the past might seem out of place in scholarly discourse. Non-evangelicals, recognizing the importance of the movement, added to the problem by discussing it without reference to divine involvement. Theology and history found themselves opposed to one another in accounts of the evangelical past. Was the evangelical movement to be seen as an expression of divine activity or of human culture? If it was to be seen as both, how was its Christian content related to its contexts?

The Gospel in the Past brings together eleven scholars of evangelical theology and history seeking to answer questions such as these within evangelical historiography. Part 1 focuses on the historiography of selected evangelical themes and topics, such as eschatology, evangelical women, and responses to C. S. Lewis. Part 2 focuses on evangelical historiography within particular countries, such as Wales and Australia, and within particular denominations, such as Anglicanism.

Each of the essays touches to a greater or lesser extent on the contrast between traditional evangelical approaches to history and more recent ones shaped by the expectations of the academy. Engaging both sides of this lively divide, The Gospel in the Past is an accessible guide to the historiography of the evangelical movement with a focus on analyzing and beginning to resolve some of the tensions within the discipline.

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The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement

The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement

by David W. Bebbington (Editor)
The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement

The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement

by David W. Bebbington (Editor)

Overview

From the dawn of their movement in the eighteenth century, evangelicals composed narratives of the revivals that were drawing in large numbers of new converts. As evangelicals continued to write about the achievements of their heroes at home and abroad, tensions between their theological purposes and the historical nature of their writings began to emerge, particularly as history developed into a professional academic discipline. Words praising the Lord’s doings in the past might seem out of place in scholarly discourse. Non-evangelicals, recognizing the importance of the movement, added to the problem by discussing it without reference to divine involvement. Theology and history found themselves opposed to one another in accounts of the evangelical past. Was the evangelical movement to be seen as an expression of divine activity or of human culture? If it was to be seen as both, how was its Christian content related to its contexts?

The Gospel in the Past brings together eleven scholars of evangelical theology and history seeking to answer questions such as these within evangelical historiography. Part 1 focuses on the historiography of selected evangelical themes and topics, such as eschatology, evangelical women, and responses to C. S. Lewis. Part 2 focuses on evangelical historiography within particular countries, such as Wales and Australia, and within particular denominations, such as Anglicanism.

Each of the essays touches to a greater or lesser extent on the contrast between traditional evangelical approaches to history and more recent ones shaped by the expectations of the academy. Engaging both sides of this lively divide, The Gospel in the Past is an accessible guide to the historiography of the evangelical movement with a focus on analyzing and beginning to resolve some of the tensions within the discipline.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781481322621
Publisher: Baylor University Press
Publication date: 04/15/2025
Pages: 305
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

David W. Bebbington is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Srtiling in Scotland.

Table of Contents

Foreword
David W. Bebbington

Introduction
John Maiden

I Themes and Topics
1 Remembering Revival: Evangelical Historians and the Great Awakening
Ian Hugh Clary
2 Eschatology in Evangelical Historiography: Or, Whatever Happened to J. N. Darby?
Crawford Gribben
3 Historians on Gospel Women: The Female Part in Anglo-American Evangelical Foreign Missions
Anneke H. Stasson
4 The Redemptive Power of the Word: The Study of African American Uses of the Bible
Mark A. Noll
5 One Pilgrim's Regress: British and American Evangelicals' Disparate Responses to C. S. Lewis
Stephanie L. Derrick

II Countries and Denominations
6 Memoirs, Manuscripts and Manipulations: Anglican Evangelicals from Charles Simeon to the Global South
Andrew Atherstone
7 Our Heritage: Plymouth Brethren Historiography
Neil Dickson
8 Welsh Evangelical Historiography
David Ceri Jones
9 Purpose and Definition in British Evangelical Historiography
Mark Smith
10 No Time Like the Present: Writing the Past in Australian Evangelical Dissent
Kerrie Handasyde

Afterword
John Maiden

What People are Saying About This

Douglas A. Sweeney

This first-rate collection of up-to-date essays on the historiography of Anglophone evangelicals deserves close attention. It offers careful analysis of the ways in which historians have researched and written about modern evangelicals of several different sorts (male and female, black and white, from several parts of the world). This is not your father’s volume of historiographical essays. It blazes new trails and points a way to the future of such scholarship.

Melani McAlister

This very fine collection brings together some of the world's finest scholars of evangelicalism, who insightfully examine how different groups of evangelicals (across lines of race, gender, and nation) have imagined not only their past, but their past as historians. In this wide-ranging and nuanced set of essays, the authors collectively show how evangelical historiography has consistently emerged as a site of world-making. A truly impressive book that has much to teach both students and specialists.

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Bibles & Christianity
Religion
Christianity
History of Christianity
General & Miscellaneous Church History
Bibles & Christianity
Religion
Christianity
History of Christianity
General & Miscellaneous Church History

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