The Expansion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and Finney (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Expansion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and Finney Stewart J. Brown John Wolffe . 2006. The Expansion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and Finney. Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, pp. 272, Hb, £16.99. This is the second volume of a projected five-volume History of Evangelicalism (general editors, David Bebbington and Mark Noll), which will explore the emergence and development of the evangelical movement in the English-speaking world from the 1730s to the present. In his superb book, Professor Wolffe considers the expansion and diversification of evangelicalism between the 1790s and the 1840s, focusing mainly on events and personalities in the British Isles and the United States, but also giving some attention to English-speaking settlements in Africa, Australia and New Zealand. This was a momentous period for the history of evangelical Christianity, which included the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the rapid growth of industrialisation and world commerce, the 'Second Great Awakening' in American Protestantism, the emergence of the modern Protestant missionary movement, and the great moral struggle over slavery and the slave trade. Professor Wolffe weaves the developments of evangelicalism in the different countries into a coherent and satisfying narrative, and highlights the interconnections between the evangelical movements in the different English-speaking regions. There is an excellent discussion of the growing influence of women in the evangelical movement during this period. He devotes considerable attention to developments in revivalism, especially the controversial 'new methods' that were intended to promote revivals but that many criticised as artificial and manipulative. He also explores the growing divisions among evangelicals over the proper relations between Church and State, millenarian expectations, attitudes towards the Roman Catholic Church, and above all race and slavery. Despite these divisions, Wolffe's book is based upon impressive, wide-ranging scholarship, including research among manuscript collections on both sides of the Atlantic. It is well-written and will be accessible to a wide variety of [End Page 296] readers. It is somewhat unconvincing in its argument that by 1850 evangelicalism was becoming the dominant form of Protestantism in the English-speaking world. The picture he presents for the 1840s seems tobe one of deepening division and waning confidence, as evangelical campaigns to shape godly societies proved unsuccessful and as many evangelicals began withdrawing themselves from a world they could not transform. Stewart J. Brown University of Edinburgh Copyright © 2007 Edinburgh University Press