The Rise Of Evangelicalism

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Mark Noll (Position and Church Affiliation)

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Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.

Attends South Bend Christian Reformed Church (Immanuel Presbyterian, Warrenville, IL)

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Mark Noll (Education)

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B. A. (English), Wheaton College (1968)
M.A. (Comparative Literature), University of Iowa (1970)
M.A. (History of Christianity), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1972)
Ph.D. (History of Christianity), Vanderbilt University (1975)

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Purpose of "Rise"

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In The Rise of Evangelicalism, Noll purposes to “provide a coherent, multinational narrative of the origin, development, and rapid diffusion of evangelical movements in their first two generations” (24).

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Noll defines Evangelical as:

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“designating a set of convictions, practices, habits and oppositions that resemble what Europeans describe as “pietism” (17).

He refers to the Bebbington quadrilateral to outline these convictions as
1.) personal salvation,
2.) biblical emphasis,
3.) evangelism and mission, and
4.) crucicentrism (19).

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Thesis:

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Evangelicalism is a work of the Spirit through convergent forces because the gospel is spread, and the schismatic and anti-intellectual tendencies inherent in a movement largely lacking either liturgical or ecclesiastical integrity, are merely different “languages” by which the conversation of the meaning of Christianity progresses in a pluralistic society.

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Key Point: Three Connections between American Evangelical Christianity and the Enlightenment

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1. Personal Experience (John Lock) and turn to individual.
2. Evangelical trust in affections.
3. Eschewing received tradition for practical results.

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Key Point: Causes

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1. State Church issues
2. American Revolution
3. The new medium of print communications
4. Enlightenment Philosophy
5. Puritan, Pietist and Anglican movements
6. Lack of ministers in the colonies

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Key Point: Sociological effects

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1. Voluntary societies lose authority for discipline
2. Anti-intellectual tendency
3. Schismatic trends

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Key Point (Benefits)

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1. Gospel Spread
2. Counter-reformation of denominations
3. Evangelical convictions on Bible, evangelism and mission

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Chapter 1: Landscapes: Political, Ecclesiastical, Spiritual

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State-Church situations and Enlightenment/Diest challenges created a need for a "more emotionally satisfying Christianity" (41). This combined with "a vast superstructure of prejudice" against "Catholics and Catholic states" was a legacy of the past that grew even stronger over the course of the eighteenth century. (49)

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Chapter 2: Antecedents, Stirrings

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This need for a more emotionally satisfying Christianity led to "poorly organized transformations of practical religion among individuals and in local communities. This involved a private interpretation of scripture and individual experiences of worship and piety, often called "the religion of the heart" These movements lead directly to evangelicalism (53) Originally, Piatists conceived of this personal religion only in the context of a reformed Church, State and Society (54)

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Chapter 3: Revival, 1734–1738

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Revival proper begins in the fall of 1735 with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards in Northhampton, with many conversions and unheralded unity among the populace (77–78). For Noll despite unprecedented ecumenical cooperation, America lacks either the ecclesiastical history or liturgical grounding of European counties, and becomes subject to an entrepreneurial remaking of Christian faith and practice.

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Chapter 4: Revival, Fragmentation, Consolidation, 1738–1745

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Noll here identifies evangelical weaknesses that emerged and continued to afflict the movement: disregard for tradition, empire building,judgmentalism, and lack of organizational planning and continuity.

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Chapter 5: Explanations

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evangelicalism was grounded religiously in the innovative preaching of justifying faith. It was promoted and maintained by the effective exertions of capable spiritual leaders. It offered a compelling picture of direct fellowship with God for believers as individuals and in groups. It represented a shift in religiosity away from the inherited established churches toward spiritual communities constructed by believers themselves. It featured a form of conversion as much focused on personal experience, as much convinced of the plasticity of human nature and as much preoccupied with claims of certainty as any manifestation of the Enlightenment. And because its spirituality was adjusted to an opening world of commerce, communications and empire, that spirituality effectively resolved the psychological dilemmas created by this opening world. (154)

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Chapter 6: Development 1745–1770

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Noll describes the development of Evangelicalism in countries, people groups, and denominations from 1745 to 1770. Through this period the movement not only expanded greatly, but also greatly diversifies (155).
Moravians => African Americans
Anglicans=> Methodists
Independent Baptists

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Chapter 7: Diversification 1770–1795

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While it is true that the primary focus was on spiritual renewal, Noll sees Christians acting the the world a natural result of increased godliness (234). This social action takes on a different direction in the New World, where social action combines with religious fever into “populist, free-form evangelicalism” (242).

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Chapter 8: In the World

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Acknowledges that evangelicalism can be a pietistic movement in which the relationship of the self to God eclipsed all other concerns" (234).

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Chapter 9: True Religion

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Noll explains the pervasiveness of the foundational themes of personal salvation with the accompanying debate on free-will, the power of grace, deliverance from sin, celebration of God and his saving work, and life in the Spirit—all amply illustrated by the prolific, perceptive evangelical hymnody of the period. As he has in other places, Noll exposes evangelicalism's intellectual deficiencies and its frequent emphasis on the faith of the heart at the expense of the faith of the mind.

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Afterward

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The emphasis on conversion and on the active presence of the Holy Spirit has led at least some evangelicals to deny the value of intellectual effort itself.’ Noll argues that their distrust of ecclesiastical and educational authorities and strong tendency to define the church in voluntary terms has deprived evangelicals of benefiting from ‘inter-generational intellectual nurture’ which has resulted in, at its best, much evangelical thought reflecting ‘savvy practical wisdom rather than foundational reasoning’ (244).