Light the Fire Again: Eighteenth-Century Light for the Twenty-First-Century Darkness

What makes William Robinson’s letter of 1741 so significant is that it checks three important boxes:

• It highlights historical figures who have played a critical role on the world stage—namely George Whitfield, an Anglican cleric and evangelist.
• It describes a significant event: The Great Awakening, a series of Christian revivals that swept through the American colonies.
• It was written during an extraordinary time: the smallpox epidemic was raging, and severe weather had pummeled the lan...