The Plymouth Brethren

by Massimo Introvigne

Overview

This is the first history of the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative, nonconformist evangelical Christian movement whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland in the late 1820s. The teachings of John Nelson Darby, an influential figure among the early Plymouth Brethren, have had a huge impact on modern evangelicalism. However, the credit for Darby's work went to some of the first generation of his students, and as evangelicalism has grown it has completely ignored its origins in Darby and the Brethren.

In this book, Massimo Introvigne restores credit to John Nelson Darby and his movement, and places them in a contemporary sociological framework based on Introvigne's participant observation in Brethren communities. The modern-day Plymouth Brethren emphasize sola scriptura, the belief that the Bible is the supreme authority for church doctrine and practice. Brethren see themselves as a network of like-minded independent assemblies rather than as a church or a denomination. The movement has also refused to take any formal denominational name; the title "the Brethren" comes from the Biblical passage "one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8). The Plymouth Brethren offers a typology of differing branches of this reclusive movement, including a case study of the "exclusive" branch known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, and reveals the various ways in which Brethren ideas have permeated the modern Christian world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190842420
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/18/2018
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Massimo Introvigne, one of the leading international scholars of new religious movements, is the managing director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) in Torino, Italy. He is the author of some sixty books on religious minorities, including Satanism: A Social History (2016).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction
2. Darby and the Origins of the Plymouth Brethren
3. Raven and the Time of Divisions: A Map of the Brethren Movement
4. Retrenchment and Mainstreaming: The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in the 21st Century

Bibliography

Index of Personal Names

Editorial Reviews

"Provides brief but valuable insights into the community's lifeworld and activities." — Lukas Pokorny, University of Vienna, Relgious Studies Review

"This book is recommended to readers interested in aspects of comtemporary religion, both for its brevity and its comprehensiveness, and for its clarity and informativeness. It is suitable for academics, tertiary students, and matriculation school students...I recommend it unreservedly." — Carole M. Cusak, University of Sydney, The Journal for Academic Study of Religion

"Precisely what constitutes the "Plymouth Brethren" can be a bit elusive, but Introvigne has captured its essence in this short but thorough and fair-minded introduction." — George Adams, Nova Religio

"In this most insightful survey of the movement founded by influential nineteenth-century theologian John Nelson Darby, Massimo Introvigne opens the world of the intensely controversial and highly separatist branch of Darby's movement, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, little understood by the general public and the academic world. He provides a most welcome map of the church's defence of its austere path amid the attacks of critics."—J. Gordon Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Baylor University

"Though John Nelson Darby is one of the most influential Protestant thinkers of the nineteenth century, his life and mission have not been properly evaluated. This is what Massimo Introvigne does in this book. Displaying masterly scholarship, this volume is a must-read to understand the immense influence of the Brethren theology in the Protestant world to this day. Far from just being a quaint outdated group, the Brethren are a most active community in our contemporary world."—Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, Professor of North American Literature and Civilization, University of Bordeaux

"This is a sympathetic portrayal of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, which, with a lawyer's meticulous attention to detail, describes its intellectual history and contextualises it within contemporary society. Furthermore, by demonstrating that the Church has engaged in beneficial practices for non-members, and that the 'separation' it practices has an undeniable religious basis, Massimo Introvigne adroitly argues that it is rightly entitled to such benefits as charitable status."—Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus of Sociology of Religion, London School of Economics

"This is a beautifully produced little book on an important subject. Massimo Introvigne is a lawyer who has become concerned with the rights of religious minorities, and who in this book has turned his interests to explaining the background to one of the most controversial of the so-called 'new religious movements,' the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC). The PBCC is a difficult choice of subject, as the author recognizes, and it has over many years attracted its share of negative headlines. The Plymouth Brethren attempts to recognize these problems, and to defend the group on its own terms... The Plymouth Brethren is a valuable publication, therefore, in giving voice to a distinctive Christian community that sometimes struggles to make its voice heard." — Reading Religion

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