Holiness in Nineteenth-Century England, Didsbury Lectures

by David W. Bebbington

In the 1998 Didsbury Lectures David Bebbington, Professor of History at the University of Stirling, introduces us to and analyses popular forms of Christian piety that predominated in nineteenth-century England. As well as providing an important contribution to a somewhat neglected subject in the area of church history, it also provides a useful reminder that we must take seriously the popular forms of devotional practice when analysing developments in the Church.

97 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2007

About the author

David W. Bebbington is a historian who is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Stirling in Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. An undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge (1968–71), Bebbington began his doctoral studies there (1971–73) before becoming a research fellow of Fitzwilliam College (1973–76). Since 1976 he has taught at the University of Stirling, where since 1999 he has been Professor of History. His principal research interests are in the history of politics, religion, and society in Great Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and in the history of the global evangelical movement.

Reviews

[Bennett Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to 19th Victorian spirituality and the Bebbington Thesis, which deals with the origins of evangelicalism and its interaction with its cultural environment - i.e. the Enlightenment (18th century), Romanticism (19th century), and expressionism (20th century).

[Glen O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bebbington is perhaps the world’s leading historian of British Evangelicalism and the opportunity of engaging with his lectures on the forms of nineteenth-century Holiness teaching in England is simply too good an opportunity to miss. Though my primary interest in reading this book was in Methodist teaching, the other essays on Keswick, Anglo-Catholic and Reformed teaching provide a broader comparative context into which to place the Wesleyan brand of Holiness teaching. Highly recommended.