The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys

A History of Evangelicalism #1

by Mark A. Noll

Winner of a Christianity Today Book Award The word evangelical is widely used and widely misunderstood. In this inaugural book in a series that charts the course of English-speaking evangelicalism over the last 300 years, Mark Noll 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 you will find the fascinating story of their formation, their strengths and their weaknesses, but always their dynamism.

Genres: History, Church History, Religion, Theology, Christianity, Nonfiction, Christian

330 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2004

About the author

Mark A. Noll (born 1946), Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, is a progressive evangelical Christian scholar. In 2005, Noll was named by Time Magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in America. Noll is a prolific author and many of his books have earned considerable acclaim within the academic community. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind , a book about the anti-intellectual tendencies within the American evangelical movement, was featured in a cover story in the popular American literary and cultural magazine, Atlantic Monthly. He was awarded a National Humanities Medal in the Oval Office by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional account of an amazing period in Christian history. Noll is a professing evangelical as well as a brilliant historian, which means he's very good at understanding what those involved in the evangelical revival actually believed they were doing.

[Jordan Shirkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting (albeit date heavy) look at how we got to the modern American evangelical church tracing from the Reformation to the 20th century.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who was raised in an evangelical church, I have always wondered about the roots of the movement. And in recent years, as the media outlets have tossed the term around, sometimes as a compliment and other times as an epithet, it seems all the more important to understand what evangelicalism really is and where it came from.

Mark Noll is considered one of the modern experts on evangelicalism. This book is the first in a series he edited on the history of evangelicalism and it covers the years 1734 to 1795. He begins by setting the stage, describing the cultural and social situation in which evangelicalism had its birth. He describes the spiritual stirrings and antecedents that gave rise to evangelicalism, including Continental pietism and the Moravian movement. He then spends the bulk of the book describing the genesis and expansion of evangelicalism in the English speaking world, with a particular emphasis on Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers, John and Charles.

Evangelicalism was never one thing, but Noll does a nice job of tying the various threads together and trying to lay out the common theemes. Early on, he distills the essence of evangelical thought and theology down to four essential things (conversion, the Bible, activism and crucicentrism) and then goes on to show how various strands either supported or deviated from these four basic ideas.

There's a lot of interesting tidbits in this book, but one idea I found particularly fascinating was the notion that much of the evangelical ideal actually arose from ideas first found in the enlightenment and the growing market economies of Europe and North America. The notion of the need for personal conversion and the idea of individual changed behaviors were really just extensions of the ideals of agency and free will that could be found in these earlier philosophical movements. Those enlightenment ideas came to fruition as the world began to shrink (the early pieces of a global economy starting to fall into place) and as more and more people controlled their own economic destinies (with the rise of a merchant class). It was only natural to think that individuals needed to control their own spiritual destinies as well - by making a personal decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Noll is not the most scintillating writer you will find but the book moves rapidly over a lot of material, so what is sacrificed in charm or depth of character study, is made up for in speed, breadth and thoroughness. There is a lot of material here and some of it may pique your interest to study particular individuals further.

I have long contended that those of us who are Christians do a poor job of knowing our church history, and this seems particularly true of American evangelicals. If you fit in the latter category, this quick but thorough overview is not a bad place to get started in understanding your spiritual and theological heritage.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on the early history of Evangelicalism, describing its predecessors, main figures, key traits, and significant early forms and interrelations with existing institutions. This work is part narrative history, part historiography. Given the current tendency to think of Evangelicalism as essentially an American political phenomenon of the 20th century, there is a need for such a book; it is especially helpful to those who claim the label in this older sense. Since it is not more completely narrative history, it would be a bit difficult to decide who to recommend this book to; it might be a bit technical for much general readership not well equipped with the more technical knowledge of Christianity the author sometimes assumes. Nevertheless, and excellent book, and I look forward to reading the other volumes of this series.

[Amelia and John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noll is such an excellent evangelical historian. Very informative about what happened in the past, and instructive about what is going on in the present. Noll offers a readable and enjoyable volume on how evangelicalism arose and where it came from.

[Josiah Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic overview of the Evangelical Revival and Christianity through the 18th century! Very encouraging.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, especially in the last few chapters. It's really convenient that Needham's book came out last year, since this book practically picks up where Vol. 4 left off. Thus, this book is very timely. Compared to Needham, this book is much more scholarly and reflects upon the events much more thoughtfully and precisely than Needham ever could. But on the other hand, the book feels outside and detached from the events that it chronicles. When I'm reading Needham, I feel like I'm in the middle of the confusion and chaos of the church and, most importantly of all, I feel like I know what makes Athanasius or Luther or the Puritans tick. This book gave me quite a few good glimpses of John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, and George Whitfield and many of their exciting stories. But I never felt like I quite got into their skin or ever really got the full force of their setting, and I never really felt like I grasped the weight of the falling out between Wesley and Whitfield (the glimpses I got were tantalizing). Thus, I recommend this book more to those interested in trying to understand or get an overview of Evangelicalism and Protestant history rather than to people interested in getting to know it better. (Thankfully, I'm reading a bio of Jonathan Edwards and it is all those things; review forthcoming.)

The middle section lagged a lot too. The middle section on causes of revivals was good, but felt didactic and Sunday schoolish, pointing out rather quaintly just because we can explain some of the causes of the revivals does not mean that this cancels out the work of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, much of the book feels very statistics focused and reads like a social science paper. On the other hand, Noll does have an interesting thesis, which is simply that Evangelicalism gets much of its power because, instead of looking for revival in the musty institutions of the old world, they saw revival as fundamentally individual and could be carried out by institutions and (more likely) voluntary organizations that could do far more than any state church or denomination could do. Both spiritual revival and social progress were massively accelerated as a result; though Noll also notes that the tradeoff was that institutions were not always transformed as they could have been, leaving social ills like slavery largely in place.

The last chapter of the book is exceptionally good. Here at last Noll pulls a bit away from the census data and statistics to look at how women, theology, hymns, and so on worked out. Some of the stories he tells in the last pages are genuinely moving and make you realize that, despite all the over-excitement that went on the awakenings, some of these people really did work themselves to death; Whitfield, though admittedly egoistic, did genuinely work as hard as he could. Edwards was remarkably rigorous and attacked modernity head-on with an intellecutalism that tragically was often lacking from many Evangelicals, as Noll laments. One really gets a sense of the tensions in John Wesley's life alone, since he essentially started a denomination while remaining a faithful member of the church of England. Somebody should write a novel or screenplay about him. I need to read more about Olauda Equinao, since his story was obviously more exciting and spiritual than I remember. I can also forgive some of Noll's impersonalism because, as he puts it, "Although autobiographies can deceive authors and readers in countless ways, they still offer the best place to ascertain what individuals concluded about the meaning of their own experience. An evangelical historian of evangelical history may be pardoned for his own conclusion that in many particulars they also sound like the truth" (p. 290). It's nice to know that my guide is quite probably saved.

So, I look forward to reading the rest of this series.

[Bob Wolniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first part of a series on the history of evangelicalism. Being familiar with two of the other volumes, this is perhaps the most interesting because it deals with its origins, discussing the streams of Protestant dissenters, Moravian piety, and high church Anglicanism that produced such remarkable figures as George Whitefield, Jonathon Edwards, and Charles and John Wesley. Noll also tells the story of many others including the remarkable growth of evangelicalism among African-Americans and subsequent reform and theological battles over slavery. Noll also pays close attention to the powerful devotional and ecumenical effects of hymnody of the period. Predictably it covers the key figures and characteristics of the remarkable early revivals in the English speaking world, but is willing to point out the controversy, contradictions and weaknesses as well. A brilliant and thorough study that impressed me so much I chose to lead a series on the history of evangelicalism at our local church.

[Joshua Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable introduction to the history of evangelicalism. I had always in mind had the idea that Britain had been transformed and turned back to God in the Reformation, reached its zenith of holiness in the Puritan era and then its just been a steady decline from there. What I've actually discovered is that the 'steady decline' wasn't that steady after all and rock bottom happened long ago - until God broke in and caused revival. What I've found so fascinating from a historical perspective is the evangelicalism was a movement that formed in response to diverse, disparate and geographically spread phenomena - not vice versa (e.g. creating a movement in pursuit of those things)

Noll tells the story well, but there is a lot of information to take in, with densely worded pages and a whole lot of names and characters to remember. On the other side of the coin, because so many people are introduced its not possible to hear as much as you'd like about those people - especially when it sounds like some of them have very compelling stories to tell.

All strengths and weaknesses considered - this was a good read but i would have struggled to keep up if I hadn't also been listening to lectures on this era in Church History. So 3⭐

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first of a 5 volume series. This was quite an academic read and I have to admit in parts it was a bit of a slog as the details over the spirituality of various locales and personages predominantly in the Britain and USA became overwhelming in parts. Nevertheless, having now read the book and standing back from its complex historical tapestry I have a better idea as to the roots and early development of Evangelicalism. As the title indicates the giants of the period are Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys...but fascinating facts emerge such as the growth of evangelicalism amongst slaves and the role of significant, wealthy and aristocratic women such as the Countess of Huntingdon. This is NOT an entry-level read. I would only recommend the book to a person seriously interested in Evangelical Church History.

[David M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was extremely helpful to me.

Noll is wonderfully well-researched, making this quite dense, yet he still packages it in an approachable manor and lays out the themes in a scheme that makes for easily tracking the storyline.

On a personal note, this more than any other history of the same time period helped me to make some sense of aspects of my own experience. That's a longer story for another time. Suffice it to say, understanding the history of movements and traditions usually helps with illumining the present outworkings – good, bad, and ugly.

[Mike Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an historical account of the origins of the evangelical movement in the 1700s. Dr. Noll is an excellent writer who takes complicated historical ideas and makes them coherent and accessible. Evangelicalism is different than denominations, but still wrapped up in the history of some denominations, mainly Methodism during this period. Dr. Noll covers the individuals involved in this movement and the social and economic circumstances that helped its growth.

[Janae Epp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noll provides a helpful glimpse into the time period surrounding the First Great Awakening, tracing the rise of evangelicalism. Understanding these beginning pieces of the movement provides context for ongoing realities like the Calvinism/Arminianism debate, denominations, varying degrees of emphasis on experience as pitted against doctrine, etc. A good reminder that there is a why behind every what and that better understanding this why can help us more graciously and wisely approach the what.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rise of Evangelicalism is fine survey covering roughly the period 1730 to 1790, a well-researched volume that is solidly, if not sparklingly, written. Noll emphasizes the interconnections between the various European (and European-abroad) branches of evangelicalism, as well as the sources of its various flavors: Pietist, Puritan, Anglican, and Nonconformist.

[Angela Platt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is a brilliant overview of the development of evangelicalism in the English-speaking world. Each book written by an academic who is renowned in his field, these books are useful for both amateur and professional historians with an interest in evangelicalism.

[Corey Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noll tackles the difficult task of tracing the early roots of the Evangelical movement in two separate continents. This is a good introduction to the movement. Noll does well to show the markers of Evangelicalism through each event recalled or person highlighted.

[David Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great (perhaps too great?) detail in this work. I had to basically read it twice to fully absorb its message. Complex, scholarly language and a litany of dates and details make it intimidating for most readers.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating content but not an engaging read. It's good to know where you come from.

[Micah Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traces the roots of evangelicalism but it should have been more interesting than it was. Lots of names and dates.

[Grace VanOort · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring poop poop date dropping

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noll's The Rise of Evangelicalism provides a good overview of the background and reasons for the evangelical movement. He focuses on the English speaking world (including Canada, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, along with the colonies and England) and is heavy on the subtitle characters (could have been even more so for my liking), but includes comments on Pietism and the Moravians for their influence. The explanatory chapters were excellent, providing larger causes and effects and delving into things that Noll does so well, including hymnody and theology. It is an insider account, but not free of criticism and not given to simplistic explanations. My only criticism is that the chapters that handled chronology (4 of the 9) were too full of information and names and jumped around a lot denominationally and geographically. I appreciate the coverage and will make use of the details, but it was not smooth reading.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strong overview of a specific "slice" of evangelical history - though it is a bit ponderous at times. As a life-long evangelical myself, this volume provided me with a much stronger understanding of the "roots" of our movement. Noll makes a persuasive case that the marks of evangelical culture - focus on conversion, holiness in this life, authority of the Bible - were present from the beginning in men like Whitefield and the Wesleys. Additionally, I walked away from this with a much deeper understanding of John Edwards, as well as more sympathy for the Wesley brothers, who desired a reformed Anglican church rather than birthing a new denomination (Methodism).

I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, as it is difficult to read at points and is a bit uneven. However, if you are someone with an interest in early American & religious history, and if the concepts of "establishment" and "theological reformation" are interesting to you, then there is much to be gained here.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough and detailed treatment of the rise of evangelicalism in Britain and North America in the eighteenth century. My only disappointment was in Noll's discussion of why the revivals took place at this time in history - he did not really consider this from a theological perspective (i.e. how the theology of Reformed and Arminian Protestantism might have itself played a role). Noll describes himself as an evangelical, and so he sometimes seems to approach the material from the perspective of an insider to the movement (which I found less than helpful at times). Despite all this, Noll does an admirable job; I found the book to be fair and well worth reading. I look forward to diving into the next book in the series.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short review: good, wide ranging introduction to early evangelicalism. Several things are striking. One, how young Whitfield, Wesleys and Edwards were when they all started (around 25-26 for all except John Wesley and he was just over 30). Second, most of the issues then, are still issues now. The role of scripture and authority, tradition vs innovation, leading of the Holy Spirit vs cultural understanding of scripture, pragmatism, etc.

Just another book that really emphasizes the need for Evangelicals to know Christian history well.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-rise-of-evangeli...

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very detailed history of the rise of evangelicalism in the United States. It is part of a five-part series on the emergence and evolution of evangelical Protestant Christianity in the United States by InterVarsity Press. Mark A. Noll is a full professor of history at Weaton College in Illinois and really knows the subject. So, if you need a good, comprehensive reference collection for American evangelicalism...this is a good collection. (I should point out that Noll only authors the first book in the series, however.)

[Nate Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to the early evangelicals. There are some distinct marks to the movement - conversion, activism, piety, biblicism, etc. - and compelling to see the socially transformative power of these traits. Though the early evangelicals were probably intellectually more robust (though there are many bright evangelicals in our day), much of the movement is still intact and still doing similar work and having similar influence.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read from a consistently first-rate historian. Fascinating recounting of the Great Awakening, especially in the details surrounding the lives of its four leading figures (Edwards, Whitefield, and John and Charles Wesley), the movements they founded, and the ways their ministries shaped Christianity up to the present day.

[David Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for the historian and/or "well read history reader", because Noll covers a lot of ground in this book and I would think the average reader would find it difficult to wade their way through it. It is highly recommended for those who have a good background of theological and historical reading.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

good historical review of american Christianity and the assumptions about our faith we still hold as a result of the Great Awakenings.

[Joe Rigney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overall background on Whitefield, Wesleys, and the Awakening