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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Other Protestant & Nonconformist Churches > General
David Bebbington is well known for his characterization of the
Evangelical movement in terms of the four leading emphases of
Bible, cross, conversion, and activism. This quadrilateral was
expounded in his classic 1989 book Evangelicalism in Modern
Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. Bebbington
developed many of the themes in that book in articles published
from the 1980s to the present, but until now most of those articles
have remained little known. The present collection of thirty-two
essays makes readily available these important explorations of key
aspects in the history of Evangelicalism. The Evangelical movement
arose in the eighteenth century in Britain and America as a
revitalization of Protestantism. Sharing much with the Puritans who
preceded them, the Evangelicals nevertheless adopted a fresh stance
by making revival rather than reformation their priority. Coming
from diverse denominations, they formed a zealous united front.
Over subsequent centuries they grew in number and carried their
message throughout the world, giving rise to many of the churches
in the global South that have come to the forefront in world
Christianity. The essays in this work deal chiefly with Britain,
though a few place the British movement in a world setting. Because
Evangelicals on both sides of the Atlantic interacted, reading much
of the same literature and visiting each other, there was a great
deal of common ground between the British and American movements.
Hence many of the topics covered here relate to developments
mirrored in the American churches over the last three centuries.
The two volumes of The Evangelical Quadrilateral address different
aspects of the Evangelical movement. The first volume deals with
issues in the movement as a whole, and the second volume examines
features of particular denominational bodies within Evangelicalism.
Each volume contains an introductory essay reviewing recent
literature in the field, and then a series of related essays.
Volume 2, The Denominational Mosaic of the British Gospel Movement,
turns to the movement's component parts. The essays cover such
representative areas as the Islington Conference's influence in
setting out the public stance of Anglican Evangelicals, the
doctrine and spirituality of the Methodists, the Baptists in
Britain in light of Nathan Hatch's thesis about the democratization
of American Christianity, the role of the (so-called Plymouth)
Brethren in world Evangelicalism, and the charismatic renewal that
transformed church life in the postwar world. This second volume
therefore brings out the wide range of denominations in the
Evangelical mosaic.
From the politics of Glenn Beck to reality television's Big Love
and the hit Broadway show The Book of Mormon, Mormons have become a
recognizable staple of mainstream popular culture. And while most
Americans are well aware of the existence of Mormonism--and some of
the often exaggerated myths about Mormonism--the religion's public
influence has been sorely understudied.Lee Trepanier and Lynita K.
Newswander move beyond cliched and stereotypical portrayals of
Mormonism to unpack the significant and sometimes surprising roles
Mormons have played in the building of modern America. Moving from
popular culture to politics to the Mormon influence in social
controversies, LDS in the USA reveals Mormonism to be
quintessentially American--both firmly rooted in American tradition
and free to engage in the public square. Trepanier and Newswander
examine the intersection of the tension between the nation's
sometimes bizarre understanding of Mormon belief and the suspicious
acceptance of the most well known Mormons into the American public
identity. Readers are consistently challenged to abandon popular
perceptions in order to embrace more fully the fascinating
importance of this American religion.
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