Heart Religion In The British Enlightenment

A fascinating account of the daily life and spirituality of early Methodists by a prize-winning gender historian.

"This collection of essays on a critical phase in the history of Protestant spirituality arose from the seventh annual one-day conference of the Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies, held in 2011"--Preface.

In 'The Religion of the Heart,' Campbell provides a critical but sympathetic analysis of the European and British pietistic movements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Campbell shows that a definitive form of religious life emerged during the period of inter-Christian warfare in the seventeenth century that was characterized by personal affection for God. Campbell explores these religious movements parallel to the rise of Enlightenment thought and examines their importance in relation to our understanding of modern religious movements.

Questions have been raised in recent decades about the place of women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in church and society during a time of vast industrial change. These topics are broad, but can be seen in microcosm in one small area of the English Midlands: the parish of Madeley, Shropshire, in which Coalbrookdale became synonymous with the industrial age. Here, the evangelical Methodist clergyman John Fletcher (1729-1785) ministered between 1760 and 1785, among a population including Roman Catholics and Quakers, as well as people indifferent to religion. For nearly sixty years after his death, two women, Fletcher's widow and later her protege, had virtual charge of the parish, which became one of the last examples of Methodism within the Church of England. Through examining this specific locality, with its potential for religious tension and great social significance, this multidisciplinary collection of essays engages with developing areas of research. In addition to furthering knowledge of Madeley parish and its relation to larger themes of religion, gender and industry in eighteenth-century Britain, the impact of the Fletchers in nineteenth-century American Methodism is examined.

This four-volume collection of primarily newly transcribed manuscript material brings together sources from both sides of the Atlantic and from a wide variety of regional archives. It is the first collection of its kind, allowing comparisons between the development of the family in England and America during a time of significant change. Volume 1: Many Families The eighteenth-century family group was a varied one. Documents attest to religious and racial diversity, as well as the hardships endured by the poor and working classes, such as widows, orphans and those born outside wedlock. Fictive families are also examined alongside more traditional family units bound by blood or law.

The essays contained in this volume examine the particular religious experiences of women within a remarkably vibrant and formative era in British religious history. Scholars from the disciplines of history, literary studies and theology assess women's contributions to renewal, change and reform; and consider the ways in which women negotiated institutional and intellectual boundaries. The focus on women's various religious roles and responses helps us to understand better a world of religious commitment which was not separate from, but also not exclusively shaped by, the political, intellectual and ecclesiastical disputes of a clerical elite. As well as deepening our understanding of both popular and elite religious cultures in this period, and the links between them, the volume re-focuses scholarly approaches to the history of gender and especially the history of feminism by setting the British writers often characterised as 'early feminists' firmly in their theological and spiritual traditions.

As a religious and social phenomenon Methodism engages with a number of disciplines including history, sociology, gender studies and theology. Methodist energy and vitality have intrigued, and continue to fascinate scholars. This Companion brings together a team of respected international scholars writing on key themes in World Methodism to produce an authoritative and state-of-the-art review of current scholarship, mapping the territory for future research. Leading scholars examine a range of themes including: the origins and genesis of Methodism; the role and significance of John Wesley; Methodism’s emergence within the international and transatlantic evangelical revival of the Eighteenth-Century; the evolution and growth of Methodism as a separate denomination in Britain; its expansion and influence in the early years of the United States of America; Methodists’ roles in a range of philanthropic and social movements including the abolition of slavery, education and temperance; the character of Methodism as both conservative and radical; its growth in other cultures and societies; the role of women as leaders in Methodism, both acknowledged and resisted; the worldwide spread of Methodism and its enculturation in America, Asia and Africa; the development of distinctive Methodist theologies in the last three centuries; its role as a progenitor of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements, and the engagement of Methodists with other denominations and faiths across the world. This major companion presents an invaluable resource for scholars worldwide; particularly those in the UK, North America, Asia and Latin America.

This book explores the early evangelical quest for enlightenment by the Spirit and the Word. While the pursuit originated in the Protestant Reformation, it assumed new forms in the long eighteenth-century context of the early Enlightenment and transatlantic awakened Protestant reform. This work illuminates these transformations by focusing on the dynamic intersection of experimental philosophy and experimental religion in the biblical practices of early America’s most influential Protestant theologians, Cotton Mather (1663-1728) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). As the first book-length project to treat Mather and Edwards together, this study makes an important contribution to the extensive scholarship on these figures, opening new perspectives on the continuities and complexities of colonial New England religion. It also provides new insights and interpretive interventions concerning the history of the Bible, early modern intellectual history, and evangelicalism’s complex relationship to the Enlightenment.