A Passion for Souls: The Life of D.L. Moody

by Lyle Wesley Dorsett

Dwight Lyman Moody, one of the greatest evangelists of the 19th century, preached the gospel to more than 100 million people. He had "A Passion for Souls". In these pages, readers will find a model of biblical passion, vision, and commitment as Lyle W. Dorsett reveals the heart of this great evangelist.

Genres: Biography, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, History, Evangelism, Biography Memoir

491 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Lyle W. Dorsett received his B.A. in history (1960) and M.A. in history (1962) from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1965). He began his teaching career at the University of Missouri, moving briefly to the Univ. of Southern California and University of Colorado at Denver, before he joined the history department at the University of Denver.

Reviews

[Ben Denison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought this was a great biography on DL Moody, an evangelical pastor of the mid-to-late 1800’s.

Started his ministry in Chicago preaching to the poor/homeless kids and built it into a huge conglomeration of ministries, seminaries, conferences, books/publishers. And with all this success, seldom passed the plate relying on gifts, and put his royalties/earnings back in his ministries. Amazing skills in creative solutions and dedicated commitment to spreading the gospel.

Interesting things I didn’t know...
* role in Civil War with ministering to Union troops, captured southerners, and former slaves. Few did the last 2.
* his refusal to separate/divide by wealth, status, denomination. He did have separate men/women meetings but I think his reasoning was to allow the ladies a platform and chance to teach, speak, and ask questions (seldom allowed in the 1800’s)
* lost his church/warehouse, home, offices (everything) in the great Chicago fire.
* his role in building up the YMCA , getting women into it.
* his great revival journey in Britain and souls converted.
* I knew about Moody Bible Institute, but he actually started 4 different schools/seminaries.
* His role in Christian publishing where most religious books at that time were extravagantly made, cost a lot, and only rich could afford. He took a page from the Dime-Novel Westerns of the time and got his and other religious books made/sold cheaply for 10 cents.

Great book. Great man.

[Bennett Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough but largely uncritical portrait of a giant of late Victorian American evangelicalism. DL Moody was born into poverty, baptized a Unitarian, and converted while selling shoes in Boston. Then he moved to Chicago, where he became involved in the YMCA, evangelized poor children, and founded a successful Sunday school (that eventually became a church). When the Civil War broke out, he dropped everything to become a Union chaplain. When the war ended, he returned to the Windy City and resumed his work with the Y and his Sunday School. Then he experienced a second blessing of sorts - a baptism of the Holy Spirit - and took up a new vocation - that of a revivalist. He led a series of campaigns in the UK around 1875, then returned home and did the same in major cities in the US. He laid down a pattern that Billy Sunday and then Billy Graham would follow. Then, he founded 3 schools (2 in Northfield; 1 in Chicago), basically kick-started both the Christian conference movement in and the parachurch movement in the US. Then he died - what a life!

Dorsett does a good job of recounting this remarkable life. At times he gives more info than is needed. And he is more than just a sympathetic biographer - he is an apologists. To be fair, he acknowledges some of the more problematic aspects of Moody's ministry. But some questions and tensions needed much more attention. Chief among them is his relationship to the Church. Also, Moody drew strange lines of fellowship. He constantly downplayed important denominational distinctives as non-essential, but he expected his associates to affirm: 1) the baptism of the Spirit (as a second-blessing); 2) premillennialism (and possibly some form of dispensationalism); and 3) divine healing. I find it very odd that he would work with Unitarians, and emphasize the work of the Spirit so strongly. And equally odd that he would platform theological liberals and proponents of theistic evolution, and yet insist on a premillenial interpretation of Scripture. But these tensions are quintessentially Moody. He was uneducated, yet he founded multiple schools; he refused ordination, yet he was a church-planter; he began his ministry as an evangelist to the poorest of the poor, and yet he was intimate friends with some of America's richest men. He claimed to only be interested in "new" works in the US, and yet most these works had been tried and tested in the UK years before.

I honestly have no idea what to do with Moody. I want to like him, because so many of the men that I like, liked him. I'm thinking of Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, JC Ryle (whom Dorsett didn't mention), along with many other Victorian evangelicals. And yet I don't. I find so many aspects of his legacy troubling, especially his emphasis on revival campaigns, Christian conferences, and parachurch organizations. All of these, whether intentionally or unintentionally - and I'm not sure which it is - de-emphasized the place of the local church and the ordinary means of grace in the Christian life. They still do.

But I will say this about the Dorsett bio - it was thought provoking. And sheds important light on late-Victorian anglophone evangelicalism, particularly non-denominational, non-Finneyesque, American evangelicalism just before the advent of the Modernist-Fundamentalists controversies of the early 20th century.

[Tim Baumgartner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are some quotes/things to ponder from one of the greatest evangelists of the nineteenth century:

Book Review_A Passion For Souls: The Life of D.L. Moody by Lyle Dorsett
[Woodrow] Wilson recalled that before leaving, “I was aware that I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. Moody was in the next chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he left and noted the singular effect his visit had upon the barbers in that shop. They talked in undertones. They did not know his name, but they knew that something had elevated their thought. And I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship.”¹
[^1 Woodrow Wilson is quoted in John McDowell, et al., What D. L. Moody Means to Me: An Anthology of Appreciations and Appraisals of the Beloved Founder of The North- field Schools (E. Northfield, Massachusetts: The Northfield Schools, 1937), 23. On the same page as this reminiscence there is a copy of a letter from President Wilson to Doctor Bridgman dated 26 October 1914 where he says, “This is not a leg- end; it is a fact; and I am perfectly willing that you should publish it. My admiration and esteem for Mr. Moody was very deep indeed.”] (19)

On one level the church had accommodated the drives for money, status, and power in the new order. Secularism had infiltrated the church on a grand scale; at first as a sincere way to attract worldly people, but gradually secularism became dominant and transformed the church. The pulpit had been evolving into a podium for lectures, until sermons sounded more like learned ad- dresses than biblical proclamations. (178)

[Meetings] These sessions served several important functions. First, the people had some input in the campaign. If they had serious questions they received honest and thoughtful answers. Second, Moody learned about issues on the minds of particular communities of people, and thus he was able to select more appropriate sermon topics and illustrations to meet the local needs. Third, many ministers were directly involved in the campaigns this way. Moody had the opportunity to know them better, and their presence and direct participation made them a genuine and useful part of the overall work. And finally, Moody furthered his theological education when the pastors responded to questions first. (190)

In these training sessions Moody first instructed the workers to take each person seriously. “Don’t hurry from one to another, don’t grudge the time spent on one person,” he insisted. Even if many were waiting for counsel, and the counselor was tempted to move quickly so that everyone would be helped, he should take time. The others would wait. If they left, so be it. “Remember the value of one soul,” he stressed. “The other night,” he mentioned in one training session, “I saw people [workers] waiting a minute or two with one, and then going on to another—wait patiently, and ply them with God’s word, and think, oh! think, what it is to win a soul for Christ, and don’t grudge the time [given to] one person.”⁴¹
[41. MacKinnon, “Journal,” 8, 58, 105.] (193)

One night when he and a Scottish friend chatted about the crowds in a particular meet- ing, Moody emphatically said, “We must not expect every impression to result in conversion; nor every impression on people already converted, to result in a higher life and walk. It is still as it was before, when Christ spoke; there are four different kinds of hearers and the corresponding amount of fruit bearing.”³
[3. MacKinnon, “Journal,” 80.] (210)

[The Wordless Book] Moody frequently talked to the children himself, and in one city he unveiled a large booklet with four leaves—black, red, white, and gold. Holding this wordless book up in front of the children, he engaged them in an interchange of questions and answers that he drew from the colors. With simple visual aids and verbal responses, he led them into dialogue that eventually pointed to their need for a Savior. This booklet caught on in the United Kingdom. Eventually it was used as he used it or in a modified form on both sides of the Atlantic by people involved in child evangelism.⁹
[^9 Moody, Moody, 220.] (212)

Moody had said in Sheffield that “the Master’s heart [is pierced] with unutterable grief, . . . not [over] the world’s iniquity, but the Church’s indifference.” (220)

Oswald Chambers. He grew up to become an exceptionally anointed man who understood the diagnosis, healing, and nurture of souls as well as anyone in the English-speaking world. He ministered in America as well as Britain, and he founded a vibrant Bible training college. He died in Egypt during World War I, but his wife had taken copious notes of his lectures and sermons, resulting in the publication of
books such as My Utmost for His Highest, Devotions for the Deeper Life, and Biblical Psychology. These inspired works and many others still feed souls of people all over the globe.³²
[32. David McCasland, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God (Ann Arbor: Discovery House, 1993), 23–25.] (222)

He is wholly and thoroughly conscious that it is all of God.” Two attractive sides of Moody were apparent. “Praying alone with him, I found him humble as a child before God. Out in the work with him I found him bold as a lion before men. No hesitation, no shrinking,
no timidity; speaking with authority, speaking as an ambassador of the most high God.”⁵⁷
[57. Quoted in Moody, Moody, 258–59.] (234)

Moody used a striking metaphor to explain their battle plan: “Water runs downhill, and the highest hills in America are the great cities. If we can stir them we shall stir the whole country.”⁶⁰ It was decided that Whittle and Bliss would take on the midwestern and southern “hills,” and Moody and Sankey would invade the massive cities on the Atlantic coast.
[61. Quoted in Moody, Moody, 261–63.] (236)

Moody gradually learned to cope with the strains of life by telling stories and jokes, allowing laughter rather than the old outbursts of temper to be his safety valve for tension and strain. Whittle said Mr. Moody “found relief from the strain that is constantly upon him” through “hearty” laughter. He would “shake all over and hold his sides over jokes.” In all this levity “he is as natural as a child,” and he “knows how far to go with a joke—never [laughing] about sacred things,” and astutely able to “turn to the subject of Christ” in a moment.¹⁰⁵
[105. Whittle’s diary in typescript in Powell papers, 3, Yale archives.] (255)

Moody’s second observation from a decade of preaching was that the truly effective work had to be done in the inquiry room—it must be personal work. The problem was that most cities did not have churches with enough spiritually mature and biblically informed people to get the job done well. (264-5)

The thesis of Moody’s talks and book was simple. The church lacked the power to change lives because it leaned too much on elements besides prayer, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. The late-nineteenth-century church, he argued, is like an army being defeated because it refuses to use its weapons. (348)

Moody stressed that Spirit-filled men preach the Word, not themselves, and that such workers must be continually filled with power from on high, rather than rely on any single experience from the past. “The fact is, we are leaky vessels, and we have to keep right under the fountain all the time to keep full of Christ, and so have fresh supply.” Moody likened the Spirit-filled worker to an irrigated field in California’s Sacramento Valley. The irrigated field is green and it stands in stark contrast to the non-irrigated field where the soil is dry, the vegetation is brown and dry, and no fruit will come forth.¹²⁴
[^124 Moody, Secret Power, 45–46.] (349)

“One of his favorite principles,” according to an associate, “is that it is far better to set others to work than to try to do all the work oneself.”¹³⁰
[On books, see Fullerton, Meyer, 41; on promotion of schools, see Shanks, Moody at Home, 32.] (352)

He continually urged unity in the celebration of the essentials of the Christian faith, liberty in the nonessential doctrines, and charity in everything toward all people. Only his family
and closest friends understood how he suffered when the factionalism of Chris- tianity began to widen and harden during the late 1890s. (365)

In Retrospect:
KEY #1: COMMITMENT
Will said that for his father, “There was but one motive—the proclamation of the Gospel through multiplied agencies.”² In brief, Moody, like all great men, had a single focus. (388)
From the day he heard British evangelist Henry Varley say, “It remains for the world to see what the Lord can do with a man wholly consecrated to Christ,” this idea took a powerful hold upon Moody. He could not get it out of his mind. It captured his heart.
(389)

KEY #2: A WILLINGNESS TO TAKE RISKS
To Moody’s mind, God never worked mightily through people until they were willing to risk everything for His glory. (389)

KEY #3: VISION
Dwight Moody was always at his best when he was confident he had been in God’s presence. The hills of Northfield were occasionally like Mount Sinai or the Mount of Transfiguration to him. Sometimes he climbed up on Round Top or went three miles north into New Hampshire. There he would ascend to a vantage point where he could survey Northfield, look at the Connecticut River Valley, and then call upon the Lord for guidance. (389)

KEY #4: MOODY’S SENSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Inextricably tied to vision as a key to Moody’s extraordinary effectiveness was his keen sense of the personal reality and presence of the Holy Spirit. After 1871 Moody staked everything on the application of John 14, 15, and 16 to his life and the life of every believer. He tenaciously held to his proclamation that “the existence of the Holy Spirit is to the child of God a matter of Scripture revelation and of actual experience.” (392)

From experience Moody could say that “without this power, our work will be drudgery. With it, it becomes a joyful task, a refreshing service.” This was his “secret power”—and he prayed for all Christians to understand this truth and person- ally appropriate it.¹⁵
(393)

KEY #5: A HIGH VIEW OF SCRIPTURE
To this end, “If I am going to get in any study, I have got to get up before the other folks get up.” (393)

KEY #6: A CHRIST-CENTERED LIFE

KEY #7: A CONFIDENCE IN YOUNG PEOPLE

KEY #8: TEACHABILITY

KEY #9: HUMILITY

KEY #10: LOVE FOR SOULS
He knew too that people need to be told that Scripture promises that when we confess our sins and truly repent, God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). (399)

If gifted Protestant pastors like Englishman Richard Baxter recognized the need to encourage a return to personal work by visiting the home of each parishioner at least once a year, this practice was disappearing again by the nineteenth century.³³
(400)

Trained counselors at the front of the hall do personal work with the inquirers. Something of a cross between Moody’s and Sunday’s approach, the Graham system is far more intimate and private than the path insisted upon by Sunday. If Graham differs from Moody it is because, to Graham’s way of thinking, Christ called men publicly, so he must do the same. Graham insists that people need an opportunity to make a public confession of their faith in Christ.³⁸
(401)

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about the 19th century evangelist. Very inspiring.

[Yibbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has the perfect title, for no other phrase can so perfectly sum up Moody’s actions and motivations. From the moment of salvation to his last days spreading the Gospel to nations or street-urchins, all he worked for was the salvation of souls to the glory of God. Thank God for the good he did for souls and our nation, and the legacy he left. Dorsett does an excellent job of showing Moody in his strength and weakness. He draws from public information, family history, and many, many letters. I really appreciated the inclusion of large sections of those letters as his personality really shines through.
Moody is one of those Christian leaders that I had heard about so many times and had a general respect for. This book increased my respect for his soul-winning faithfulness, but it also pointed out some serious problems with other parts of his ministry as well. His willingness to platform people with serious theological differences and partner with other religions, such as Catholicism, are concerning. I wonder if he could see where some of those beliefs have led in the modern church if he would have been more careful. His focus on getting everyone to read the Bible is probably one of the best things that came from his ministry.
Something about this book nagged at me for days after I finished. It wasn’t till I’d thought about it a long time that I was able to figure out just what it was. The author, in modern fashion, was slightly embarrassed by those Christians of the past that took seriously Biblical doctrine and practice, especially the prohibition on women as ministers and dispensationalism. He presents Moody as a “progressive” man held back by his times. How that and several other issues were presented left me wondering if the author was projecting our times onto Moody’s ministry or if Moody was really “progressive”.
Still, I learned a great deal and was blessed by Moody’s testimony, so I would recommend it with a little bit of caution.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyle Dorsett (b. 1938), an academically trained, evangelical historian, has written a fine biography of evangelist Dwight L. Moody, solid but not stuffy, sympathetic but not uncritical. The book is unusual in that it can be read with profit both by scholars and by laymen interested in a devotional study—as for instance, in the case of a previous reviewer who wrote that she was “encouraged and challenged by Moody’s heart for evangelism and his tireless dedication to serving God no matter what the cost.” Personally, I took notes for my own academic project and was simultaneously moved by Dorsett’s warm-hearted presentation.

Dorsett writes well enough, though if he (or a competent copy editor) had had the time, they might have cut many unnecessary words from the manuscript, tweaking sentences and trimming block quotations, perhaps 25-pages worth in in 400-page book.

[Ksorb · Rating 5 out of 5]

The life of Dwight L. Moody was fascinating and surprising. The telling by Lyle Dorsett is revealing and surprising! I'm so impressed by all I learned and gleaned from his life and work that I regretted getting it in audible form and have decided this is one I want to re-read and mark up for future use. I felt invested in him and his family by the story, and got weepy at the narrative of his dying days. He lived well, so he died well.

[Ian Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of A Passion for Souls:The Life of D.L. Moody

A very thorough account of all aspects of Moody's life. It is inspiring in its account of this incredibly gifted and dynamic leader. The section analysing the reasons for his outstanding achievements was especially valuable.
It is also refreshingly frank about his weaknesses.
It was on the whole interesting and readable, but I personally found it rather long and overly detailed, so 4 stars not 5.

[Keith Warne]

An inspirational preacher of whom it is reported: "While in England he heard evangelist Henry Varley say, “The world has yet to see what God can do through a man who is totally yielded to Him.” Moody was captivated by these words and resolved, “By the Grace of God, I will be that man!”"

As a young man, this dedication motivated my own.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, well balanced bio on the founder of the Moody Bible Institute. Truly had a passion for souls. Not a page turner, but worth reading.

[Christian Belone · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring man. Conviction, love for the Lord, and unwavering trust in the scriptures. Reminded me of James 1:5 and Hebrews 3:14.

[Alicia Saari]

Interesting to read the historical context of his ministry.

[Will Belliel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty interesting, sections were slow and hard to get through but DL moody was one faithful man that is sure

[Dan Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent biography of a man who continued to seek after God's Spirit.

[Ryan Linkous · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, rather comprehensive biography of Dwight L. Moody. It definitely qualifies as a spiritual biography, however, Lyle Dorsett has done plenty of research and has a discerning soul to back up this work. To be honest, I began this book which much ambivalence toward DL Moody even though I've read little or nothing of him. I simply thought he was a dispensational evangelist who was popular in the 1800's. Good for his day, but not for today. This book helped changed that perception of him and encouraged me in a few ways:

1. Reading about Moody's zeal for ministry and for the conversion of souls spurns me on to continue gospel ministry.
2. It was helpful to see that Moody cannot be simply categorized as a dispensationalist. He bears the marks of dispensationalism, but he was at odds with CI Scofield and Moody Bible Institute took a more cessationist dispensational turn nearly a decade after Moody's death when James M. Gray took over. Moody's dispensational tendencies include premillenialism and a deemphasis on denominations and ordination. This book was a gentle reminder that I cannot pigeonhole nor should I anyone else because they are friends with people in other camps.
3. Moody's emphasis on the Holy Spirit reminds me that I must always depend on the Spirit for anything.
4. I really appreciated Moody's ecumenical and peaceableness between different denominations. I too care about this a lot. However, much of Moody's refusal to take sides was naive and soon after his death, the conservative/liberal divide rent Protestantism in half. Though he had theological positions, he refused to take sides in most debates. This shows me that it is important to know what I believe theologically, and I must be willing to challenge others where I think they are headed for heterodoxy or heresy. A peaceable tone is invaluable, but refusal to partake in an important debate or discussion may simply leave you in the dust.
5. Moody's emphasis on the poor in incredibly noble and per my evaluation he did a good (but not perfect) job of having relationships and ministering to both the poor and the rich. He got his start in ministry by teaching neglected children in the poorest part of Chicago during the city's early years in "the Sand" or "Little Hell." His ministry began with the lowly and destitute and despite his close friendships with very wealthy people, he never forgot the lowly. In fact, each of the four educational institutions he started or helped start were about providing education for those who couldn't afford it.
6. Moody and some other of his Christian colleagues were ahead of the curve when it came to several social issues. He and O. O. Howard (founder of Howard University) understood the importance of offering education to African-Americans, Native Americans, and other ethnicities. In fact, Moody insisted upon evangelistic campaigns in Georgia being integrated racially, but local whites insisted upon having segregated meetings (Moody lost the argument). Also, three of Moody's four schools started to educate women. He was also in cahoots with Henry F. Durant, the founder of Wellesley college, who opened the school for women. These all began as Christian ventures.

Moody was likely American evangelicalisms most important figure in the 19th century, nearly an American equivalent of Charles Spurgeon (though there are key differences there). This biography is a great place to be introduced to Moody and is a helpful place to begin appreciating Moody.

[Isaac Ezell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't help but wonder while reading the book why the author took every opportunity to lift up Moody as a saint and none to frame him as a fallen human. His weaknesses seemed to be justified away. Truth be told this made the book uninteresting and although I'm a believer I just couldn't relate to much of Moody's experience as relayed by the author.

[Joc-e-lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The life of a great witness of Christ. His desire for the unity of Christians and churches for the cause of the lost souls should awaken us. It is the best biography of Moody that I have read. The author did a great methodical job.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

He was surprisingly but appreciatively flawed, and more charismatic than I would have thought, but powerfully evangelistic, and very much an everyday man. Very ahead of his time. I wish the book would have more samples of his sermons.

[Vaclav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished listening to this audio book, which is an excellent bio on D.L.Moody, a preacher, pastor, revivalist, founder of two Bible schools...God working through an imperfect man! It was a real feast for my faith, of one brother's life in Christ.

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Loved the history. Loved seeing the hand of God at work. This isnt all fluff of a "perfect" person...even his bad points are presented and this helped Moody to show as a real person...warts, temper, stubbornness and all.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough bio, placing the events of his life firmly in their historical contexts. Well written and well researched.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

incredible life

[Joshua Centanni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Required school reading... I looked at all the words in the book, but I don't know that I was genuinely paying much attention to them.

[George Hunger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on the life and ministry of D.L. Moody. Very well written and informative, the book shed light on every aspect of his life and what drove him in ministry and evangelism.

[Jw · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only knock against the book is that I wish he'd woven more of the material about Moody's failing and flaws into the narrative itself rather than cataloging it at the end of the book.

[Eric Handler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic. A great depiction of the life of DL Moody.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book! Lots of information I didn't know, and lots of interesting details. Fascinating life story of a man devoted to, and greatly used by, God.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very easy-to-read biography of one of America's most influential evangelists.

[Aquila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for any Christian with a desire to win soul and to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I read it several times and am planning to read it again this year.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whew - glad to have this book finished. I did not enjoy this very repetitious, overly wordy, dull, poorly written bio of D.L. Moody, the famous evangelist. This book seriously needed a better editor to trim it down and make it bearable.