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About Evangelical Disenchantment: Nine Portraits Of Faith
From Publishers Weekly Nine erstwhile evangelicals who recanted their beliefs—historical figures including George Eliot, Vincent van Gogh and James Baldwin—stand at the center of this new volume by Hempton (Methodism: Empire of the Spirit), a social historian at Harvard. Relying on letters, speeches, novels and other writings, Hempton creates minibiographies tracing the faith journeys of these disenchanted evangelicals and what such journeys reveal about the movement itself. Hempton is careful not to paint his subjects' movement away from evangelicalism as the inevitable secularization of thoughtful people; he does, however, examine his subjects' common reasons for leave-taking, including frustration with rigid doctrine and disillusionment with the church's reluctance to speak out on such issues as racism and gender inequality. Hempton also points to the vestiges of evangelicalism that often remained even after his subjects had formally quit the movement, characteristics such as moral earnestness, a desire to witness and preach, a commitment to social activism on behalf of disadvantaged people, and a concern for the truth. Readers along the entire spectrum of religious faith and disenchantment will find this book a worthwhile read. (Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description In this engaging and at times heartbreaking book, David Hempton looks at evangelicalism through the lens of well-known individuals who once embraced the evangelical tradition, but later repudiated it. The author recounts the faith journeys of nine creative artists, social reformers, and public intellectuals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including such diverse figures as George Eliot, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Vincent van Gogh, and James Baldwin. Within their highly individual stories, Hempton finds not only clues to the development of these particular creative men and women but also myriad insights into the strengths and weaknesses of one of the fastest growing religious traditions in the modern world. Allowing his subjects to express themselves in their own voices—through letters, essays, speeches, novels, apologias, paintings—Hempton seeks to understand the factors at work in the shaping of their religious beliefs, and how their negotiations of faith informed their public and private lives. The nine were great public communicators, but in private often felt deep uncertainties. Hempton’s moving portraits highlight common themes among the experiences of these disillusioned evangelicals while also revealing fresh insights into the evangelical movement and its relations to the wider culture. Featuring portraits of:· George Eliot· Frances W. Newman· Theodore Dwight Weld· Sarah Grimké· Elizabeth Cady Stanton· Frances Willard· Vincent van Gogh· Edmund Gosse· James Baldwin Review "A beautifully written and artfully constructed book that draws intriguing conclusions about the nature of evangelical Protestantism."—Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame (Mark Noll)“This book charts new territory by close examination of a series of case studies of people previously well-known but not previously compared. Hempton succeeds wonderfully well in producing compelling mini-biographies.”—Thomas Kidd, author of The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America (Thomas Kidd)“Hempton tells these stories with excellent skill, insight, and fair-mindedness. These accounts of loss of faith of prominent figures illuminate not only their personal struggles but also some fascinating relationships between evangelicalism and mainstream public culture, especially in Great Britain and the United States.”—George Marsden, author of Fundamentalism and American Culture (George Marsden)“Evangelicalism has no more loving critic and no better historian than David Hempton. He brings compass
