Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys. InterVarsity Press, 2004.
Referenced in: Congregational Renewal through Spiritual Revival
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
In the broader work of congregational renewal, spiritual revival certainly has its place. As indicated in the Resource Guide on this subject, not all those interested in church renewal will wish or need to see their situation through the eyes of revival. Revivals are unique and unusual occurrences, and it is impossible to deny the importance of revival in scripture and Christian history. One important task in appropriating God’s work in revival, however, is to distinguish between true and counterfeit phenomena, and to understand how revival has manifested itself in Christian history. Two works by Mark Noll help toward that end.
Most contemporary church leaders who appreciate revivalism give extensive references to the major revivalists of the First Great Awakening such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley, and others. Before using the insights of these historical figures, it helps to understand the theological and culture milieu surrounding them. The Rise of Evangelicalism helps toward that end. One may also be interested in Noll’s history on the Second Great Awakening and key figures such as Charles G. Finney and Francis Asbury in A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, especially Part III, “The Protestant Century.”
Today there is a resurgence of interest in Jonathan Edwards, primarily through the popular works of John Piper. These are valuable. Yet to truly appreciate someone like Edwards, one must do more than simply take the words he spoke in an era more than 200 years removed from our own and drop them into the current stream. We appropriate voices from history more effectively by knowing their stories and looking for the intersections between their situations and our own. This allows us to come closer to the fervor of those who heard them first hand. To accomplish this, we need historians.
Mark Noll is one of today’s most respected church historians. In this first of an anticipated five volume set, he discusses the major religious movements and personalities from between 1730 and 1790 that forged the roots of evangelicalism in North America and Britain. Noll highlights four foundations of evangelicalism – conversion, the Bible, missionary activity, and the centrality of the cross in atonement for sin. Of special interest is his description of the leaders of colonial revivalism such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield and John Wesley. He describes how these revivals were instrumental in the formation of several religious groups such as the Baptists and Methodists. He also covers subjects such as the relationship between gender and race in these movements.
From the Publisher
The word evangelical is widely used and widely misunderstood. Where did evangelicals come from? What motivated them? How did their influence become so widespread throughout the world during the eighteenth century?
This inaugural book in a series that charts the course of English-speaking evangelicalism over the last three hundred years offers a multinational narrative of the origin, development and rapid diffusion of evangelical movements in their first two generations. Theology, hymnody, gender, warfare, politics and science are all taken into consideration. But the focus is on the landmark individuals, events and organizations that shaped the story of the beginnings of this vibrant Christian movement.
The revivals in Britain and North America in the mid-eighteenth century proved to be foundational in the development of the movement, its ethos, beliefs and subsequent direction. In these revivals the core commitments of evangelicals were formed that continue to this day. In this volume we find the fascinating story of their formation, their strengths and their weaknesses, but always their dynamism.
Editorial Reviews
- “Mark Noll’s book describes the eighteenth-century background of evangelicalism, showing how its taproot gave us a large trans-Atlantic stem of awakening, and how that in turn produced a good number of branches and no small amount of fruit. Without ignoring the bramble mixed with the fruit, Noll offers an authoritative, surefooted guide through the halls of fractious contention and unyielding disputations that marked the origins of evangelical thought. It is clear from his account that excitement was linked to vigilant wariness and fastidious attention to ideas. The book is a valuable summary of an important force in18th century intellectual thought and ideas.” Lamin Sanneh, Yale University
- “This remarkable book provides an illuminating synthesis of the origins of evangelical culture. Noll travels easily across Great Britain, the European continent, and North America uncovering the intricate interplay of heroic theologians and their disciples, transformative ideas, and responsive congregants. He balances revealing examples against strikingly clear presentations of theologies within the social and political cultures of instability that included religious warfare, Atlantic exploration and settlement, and the rise of commercial capitalism. The result is a powerful narrative that envisions evangelicalism as the product of its era as well as an ascendant force that would change radically the nature of religious culture in Britain and North America.” Marilyn J. Westerkamp, University of California, Santa Cruz
About the Author
Mark A. Noll (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University) is Francis McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is advisory editor for Books & Culture and subeditor for the new Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Noll’s main academic interests concern the interaction of Christianity and culture in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Anglo-American societies. He has published articles and reviews on a wide variety of subjects involving Christianity in modern history.
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