Early Evangelicalism ― A Reader

Early evangelicalism flourished during the transatlantic revivals of the eighteenth century, coinciding with the emergence of the Enlightenment in America and Europe. Today, most people associate it with only a few of its leaders-namely Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and George Whitefield-despite the fact that this religious movement crossed nations as well as different traditions within Christianity.

Those responsible for the growth of evangelicalism were Anglicans, Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Moravians, and Presbyterians and could be found in America, Canada, Great Britain, and Western Europe. They published hymns, historical works, poems, political pamphlets, revival accounts, sermons, and theological treatises. There are also records of their conversion experiences, and diaries that chronicle their spiritual development. Jonathan M. Yeager's anthology introduces a host of important religious figures, providing biographical sketches of each author and over sixty excerpts from a wide range of well-known and lesser-known Protestant Christians. Early Evangelicalism: A Reader promises to be the most comprehensive sourcebook of its kind.

Jonathan Yeager is Maclellan Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he teaches courses in religious history and thought. He is the author of Enlightened Evangelicalism: The Life and Thought of John Erskine (2011).