Reformed Evangelicalism and the Search for a Usable Past
The Historiography of Arnold Dallimore, Pastor-Historian
by Ian Hugh Clary
Hardback (Published)
(September 2020)
ISBN: 9783525567241
5.94 x 9.09 inches
Price: $144.00
In stock
The question of how theology shapes a Christian historian’s reading of the past has been debated thoroughly in various academic periodicals. Should historians recognise the role of providence in their accounts of past events? Should they sympathise with their subject’s theology? Can objectivity be lost due to theological bias? And, last but not least, is there a compromise of faith if one writes “natural” instead of “supernatural” history? Such questions are important for understanding the historian’s profession. Arnold Dallimore, who trained and specialised in pastoral ministry in Canada, wrote an influential biography of the revivalist George Whitefield, as well as others on Charles and Susanna Wesley, Edward Irving, and Charles Spurgeon. How did his Reformed theological perspective impact his historiography? How does his work fit into larger historiographical debates concerning the nature of Christian history? While other books look at Christian historiography using abstract and methodological approaches, this book examines the subject precisely by looking at the life and work of an individual historian. It does so by placing Dallimore in the context of being a minister in twentieth-century Canada as well as his role in the development of Reformed Theology in the Anglosphere. It also examines the quality of his various biographies focusing on key issues such as the nature of religious revival, the problem of Christianity and slavery, and the question of charismatic religious experience. His study concludes by examining the relationship between the discipline and profession of church history and asking what is required for one to be considered a church historian.
The question of how theology shapes a Christian historian’s reading of the past has been debated thoroughly in various academic periodicals. Should historians recognise the role of providence in their accounts of past events? Should they sympathise with their subject’s theology? Can objectivity be lost due to theological bias? And, last but not least, is there a compromise of faith if one writes “natural” instead of “supernatural” history? Such questions are important for understanding the historian’s profession. Arnold Dallimore, who trained and specialised in pastoral ministry in Canada, wrote an influential biography of the revivalist George Whitefield, as well as others on Charles and Susanna Wesley, Edward Irving, and Charles Spurgeon. How did his Reformed theological perspective impact his historiography? How does his work fit into larger historiographical debates concerning the nature of Christian history? While other books look at Christian historiography using abstract and methodological approaches, this book examines the subject precisely by looking at the life and work of an individual historian. It does so by placing Dallimore in the context of being a minister in twentieth-century Canada as well as his role in the development of Reformed Theology in the Anglosphere. It also examines the quality of his various biographies focusing on key issues such as the nature of religious revival, the problem of Christianity and slavery, and the question of charismatic religious experience. His study concludes by examining the relationship between the discipline and profession of church history and asking what is required for one to be considered a church historian.
- By (author) Ian Hugh Clary
"Clary's work provides a significant contribution to the discussion surrounding Christian historiography. Rather than dealing in abstractions, this book offers a study of one of the more significant providential historians of the twentieth century." Chang, Geoff, Church History, March 7, 2022
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Other Titles in this Series
Beyond Calvin
Union with Christ and Justification in Early Modern Reformed Theology (1517-1700)
Volume 20
Symphonia Catholica
The Merger of Patristic and Contemporary Sources in the Theological Method of Amandus Polanus (1561-1610)
Volume 30
The Ground, Method, and Goal of Amandus Polanus’ (1561-1610) Doctrine of God
A Historical and Contextual Analysis
Volume 73
Mysterium Christi spiritualis praesentiae
Die Abendmahlslehre des Genfer Reformators Johannes Calvin aus romisch-katholischer Perspektive
Volume 19
Driven by God
Active Justification and Definitive Sanctification in the Soteriology of Bavinck, Comrie, Witsius, and Kuyper
Volume 46
Orthodox, Puritan, Baptist
Hercules Collins (1647-1702) and Particular Baptist Identity in Early Modern England
Volume 32
Omnes in Adam ex pacto Dei
Ambrogio Catarino's Doctrine of Covenantal Solidarity and Its Influence on Post-Reformation Reformed Theologians
Volume 8
Heavenly Providence
A Historical Exploration of the Development of Calvin's Biblical Doctrine of Divine Providence
Volume 75
The Beginning of a Spirit-filled Church
A Study of the Implications of the Pneumatology for the Ecclesiology in John Calvin's Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
Volume 45
A New Divinity
Transatlantic Reformed Evangelical Debates during the Long Eighteenth Century
Volume 49
A Heavenly Directory
Trinitarian Piety, Public Worship and a Reassessment of John Owen's Theology
Volume 29
As Often As You Eat This Bread
Communion Frequency in English, Scottish, and Early American Churches
Volume 74
Franciscus Junius d.A. (1545-1602)
Ein reformierter Theologe im Spannungsfeld zwischen spathumanistischer Irenik und reformierter Konfessionalisierung
Volume 3
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