Evangelicalism appeared as a new pattern of Christian devotion at a moment when the foundations of Anglo-American society were shifting. The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism locates the rise of evangelical religion in relation to movements that we now routinely acknowledge with capital letters: Modernity, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. The book examines the evangelical awakening in connection with the history of science, law, art, and literature. The eighteenth century saw a profound turn toward nature and the authority of natural knowledge in each of these discourses. As a more democratic public sphere became available for debating contemporary concerns, evangelicals forcefully pressed their agenda for "true religion," believing it was still possible to experience "the life of God in the soul of man." The results were dramatic and disruptive. Bruce Hindmarsh provides a fresh perspective, and presents new research, on the thought of leading figures such as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards. He also traces the significance of evangelical spirituality for elites and non-elites across multiple genres. This book traces the meaning of evangelical devotion in a rich variety of contexts, from the scribbled marginalia of lay Methodists and the poetry of an African-American laywoman to the visual culture of grand manner portraits and satirical prints. Viewing devotion, culture, and ideas together, it is possible to see the advent of evangelicalism as a significant new episode in the history of Christian spirituality. "Hindmarsh's erudite and graceful book will become an indispensable guide for the perplexed." -- John Coffey, University of Leicester, Eighteenth-Century Studies "[this book] does not disappoint. It should be essential reading for religious and nonreligious students alike who are interested in understanding evangelicalism and the eighteenth-century Anglo-American World." -- Karl Koop, New Direction "This remarkable book ... places Hindmarsh in the highest echelon of scholars writing on evangelical history today. Experts on Christianity in the English-speaking world simply must contend with Hindmarsh's brilliant assessment of the reasons for evangelicalism's emergence in tandem with modernity." -- Thomas S. Kidd, American Baptist Quarterly "This is a remarkable book. One is impressed by the breadth of figures discussed, the depth of analysis, and skill in integrating it all intro a clear and readable account. But more than this, Hindmarsh takes us into new territory, giving us a far richer understanding of evangelical spirituality than we have had before." -- Harold H. Knight, III, Methodist History "offering what is perhaps the most complete and far-ranging assessment of early evangelical spiritual life as it relates to contemporary developments in science, law, art, and literature ... this new work offers a more expansive cultural account of the practical implications that flowed from making "true religion" a matter of transformative personal religious experience." -- Brett Malcolm Grainger, Harvard Divinity Bulletin "[a] magnificent new book ... Hindmarsh's wide frame of methodological reference is exceptionally stimulating" -- Gareth Atkins, Covenant "Hindmarsh broadens and reconfigures our understanding of the early stages of the evangelical movement, laying out fresh avenues of research for future scholars." -- Adrian Chastain Weimer, The Journal of Religion "There could scarcely be a more satisfying perspective on North Atlantic evangelicalism than Hindmarsh's triple play: full definition, demographic sweep, and interdisciplinary skill....Hindmarsh excels at engaging a range of disciplines outside his formal academic ex-pertise. A church historian who can sometimes read language as closely as a literature professor, he observes just how far eighteenth-century aesthetics intersect with, and pro-ceed from, evangelical creativity." -- Richard E. Brantley, The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats "The work as a whole is a brilliant synopsis of Christian belief and cultural engagement (especially in its Reformed and Wesleyan expressions) during the eighteenth century." -- James M. Garretson, The Banner of Truth " The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism weaves together an amazing breadth of scholarship with depth of knowledge in detail. Its analysis is subtle and suggestive, as well as comprehensive in synthesis. The thesis presented-that evangelicalism represents 'a distinctive form of traditional Christian spirituality that emerged in the eighteenth century highly responsive to the conditions of the modern world' (276)-is made persuasively and elegantly. This is a lucid and beautifully written book, and an important one." -- Martin Wellings, Wesley and Methodist Studies "Based on deep knowledge of Whitefield's and especially the Wesleys' reading and vast output of writings and of the contemporary context, this book throws brilliant new light