Evangelicals and Culture by Doreen M Rosman

Evangelicals and Culture by Doreen M Rosman

Nineteenth-century evangelicals have often been dismissed as anti-intellectual and philistine. This book draws on periodicals, memoirs, and letters to discover how far this was true of British evangelicals between 1790 and 1833. It examines their leisure pursuits along with their enjoyment of art, music, literature, and study, and concludes that they shared the thought and taste of their contemporaries to a far greater extent than is usually acknowledged. What is more, their theology encouraged such activities. Evangelicals regarded recreations which engaged the mind or which could be pursued within the safety of the home as more concordant with spirituality than sensual or worldly pleasures. Nevertheless, their faith did militate against culture and learning. Some evangelicals dismissed all non-religious pursuits as vanity, since their deep-rooted otherworldliness made them suspicious of anything that did not contribute to eternal well-being. A new generation adopted a more rigid attitude to the Bible, which made them unwilling to examine new ideas. In the last resort, even the most cultured evangelicals were unable to reconcile their delight in the arts with their world-denying theology.

Doreen Rosman taught history at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, from 1974 to 2001. She is the author of The Evolution of the English Churches 1500-2000 (2003).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781610973281
ISBN 10	1610973283
Title	Evangelicals and Culture
Author	Doreen M Rosman
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Year published	2011-04-01
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.