Evangelicals and Culture

Synopsis: 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. Endorsements: "Doreen Rosman's book . . . bears testimony to the eagerness of evangelicals to join in cultural affairs . . . It goes a long way towards explaining the permeation of nineteenth-century culture by evangelical values." --David Bebbington Professor of History University of Stirling "This ground-breaking work investigates an important, albeit neglected, aspect of English Evangelical history. As Roseman makes clear, simplistic notions of philistinism fail to take into account the extent of cultural and intellectual pursuits (broadly defined) within Evangelical domestic life, and thus perpetuate misleading prejudices. Publication of this new edition is a welcomed event." --Grayson Carter Associate Professor of Church History Fuller Theological Seminary Author Biography: 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 (Cambridge University Press, 2003).