View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository REVIVING THE PAST: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EVANGELICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF CHURCH HISTORY Darren W. Schmidt A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2009 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/829 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence Reviving the Past: Eighteenth-Century Evangelical Interpretations of Church History Darren W. Schmidt A Dissertation Submitted For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy St Mary‘s College, University of St Andrews 24 February 2009 ABSTRACT This study addresses eighteenth-century English-speaking evangelicals‘ understandings of church history, through the lens of published attempts to represent preceding Christian centuries panoramically or comprehensively. Sources entail several short reflections on history emerging in the early years of the transatlantic Revival and subsequent, more substantial efforts by evangelical leaders John Gillies, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Joseph and Isaac Milner, and Thomas Haweis. Little scholarly analysis exists on these sources, aside from the renaissance of interest in recent decades in Edwards. This is surprising, considering the acknowledged prominence of history-writing in the eighteenth century and the influence attributed, then and now, to the works of authors such as Gibbon, Hume, and Robertson. The aim is, first, to elucidate each of the above evangelicals‘ interpretations of the Christian past, both in overview and according to what they said on a roster of particular historical events, people and movements, and then to consider shared and divergent aspects. These aspects range from points of detail to paradigmatic theological convictions. Secondarily, evangelical church histories are analyzed in relation to earlier Protestant and eighteenth-century ‗enlightened‘ historiography, in part through attention to evangelical authors‘ explicit engagement with these currents. This contextualization assists in determining the unique qualities of evangelical interpretations. Is there, then, evidence of a characteristic evangelical perspective on church history? An examination of this neglected area illumines patterns and particulars of evangelicals‘ historical thought, and these in turn communicate the self-perceptions and the defining features of evangelicalism itself. Findings support the primary contention that evangelical leaders made use of a dynamic pattern of revival and declension as a means of accounting for the full history of Christianity. Beyond displaying the central place of ‗revival‘ for evangelicals, these church histories demonstrate evangelicalism‘s complex relationship— involving both receptivity and critique—with Protestant and Enlightenment currents of historical inquiry. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 DECLARATIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 6 ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter One – Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8 I. Scope and Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 12 II. Historiographical Background ........................................................................................................... 21 A. The Reformation ............................................................................................................................. 21 B. The Confessional Period ................................................................................................................ 32 C. ‗Enlightened‘ Historiography ......................................................................................................... 39 III. Evangelicalism and Revival ............................................................................................................... 46 Chapter Two – Church History and the Transatlantic Evangelical Revival: From Contemporaneous Accounts to John Gillies‘ Historical Collections .......................................................... 49 I. Contemporaneous Accounts ............................................................................................................... 49 II. John Gillies‘ Historical Collections ......................................................................................................... 55 III. Comparative Features ........................................................................................................................ 75 Chapter Three – Church History and Sacred Drama: Jonathan Edwards‘ History of the Work of Redemption ......................................................................................................................................................... 81 I. The History‘s Structure .......................................................................................................................... 84 II. Interpretive Details .............................................................................................................................. 90 III. Features .............................................................................................................................................. 110 Chapter Four – The Progress of ‗Iniquity‘ and ‗Godliness‘: John Wesley‘s Concise Ecclesiastical History and Historical Sermons ............................................................................................................................... 117 I. The Concise Ecclesiastical History ........................................................................................................... 120 II. Sermons ............................................................................................................................................... 139 III. Features .............................................................................................................................................. 145 4 Chapter Five – Evangelicalism through the Ages: Joseph and Isaac Milners‘ History of the Church of Christ ............................................................................................................................................................... 151 I. Preliminary Writings ............................................................................................................................ 153 II. Prefatory Material............................................................................................................................... 159 III. Interpretive Details .......................................................................................................................... 163 IV. Features .............................................................................................................................................. 192 Chapter Six – Evangelical Church History Reprised: Thomas Haweis‘ Impartial and Succinct History ......................................................................................................................................................................... 201 I. Newton, Haweis, and Gospel-Centred Church History ............................................................... 203 II. Prefatory Material............................................................................................................................... 208 III. Interpretive Details .......................................................................................................................... 211 IV. Features .............................................................................................................................................. 236 Chapter Seven – Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 244 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................... 264 I. Primary Sources: .................................................................................................................................. 264 II. Secondary Sources: ............................................................................................................................ 266 A. Books ............................................................................................................................................... 266 B. Articles ............................................................................................................................................