The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions. Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Edited by Timothy Larsen and Michael Ledger-Lomas

Abstract

This volume is the first to be published in a five-volume series, two of which are planned to cover the twentieth century. Much of it is concerned with the institutional history of the various traditions, which will probably only interest readers of this Journal insofar as it sheds light on the ways in which those traditions did (or did not) reflect material theological differences between them. Almost inevitably with a multi-authored book of this kind it can be easy for particular issues to slip between the cracks. Three chapters are specifically devoted to theological topics: first, a typically concise and readable analysis by Mark Noll of issues concerning the Bible and scriptural interpretation; secondly, a more general treatment of theology by David Bebbington, which covers the legacy of the Enlightenment, the ways in which it affected Calvinism (primarily in North America, rather than Scotland) and Arminianism (principally Methodism), and the influence of Romanticism and evangelicalism; thirdly, a chapter on preaching which focuses on lectures and advice given by senior ministers to those beginning, since even a snapshot of what ordinary members of congregations heard week by week would be a mammoth task. The curious reader, however, may learn more from Densil Morgan’s lively and wide-ranging account of spirituality, worship, and the spiritual life. This is in the final section on congregational life, but it is more subtle theologically.