Overview

Insightful portraits of nine public figures who became enchanted and then disenchanted with evangelical religion 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

Full Product Details

9780300198256

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""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"

David Hempton's Evangelical Disenchantment is a lucidly written and riveting narrative of nine evangelical men and women who left the faith in which they once believed and were nurtured. The strengths of the books are its sensitive and sympathetic treatment of its subject matter and its attention to and appreciation of the complexity of the issues it addresses. Hempton never loses sight of the humanity of his subjects. . . . This is intellectual history at its best. . . . A well-written and deeply researched book. Hempton crafts a compelling story whose details he has mastered, and he presents them in extraordinary clear prose. . . . His sensitive and sympathetic analysis of subjects is exemplary. . . . Hempton's book is not a simple story of disenchantment as linear progress toward enlightenment. It is a story of tragedy and disappointments, gain and loss, with broken relations and new friendships. It is an eminently readable book that deserves wide reading because it bears on so many important aspects of religious history, biography, and the challenges to faith in the modern world. --Curtis J./i>--Curtis J. Evans Journal of Religion

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

Author Information

David Hempton is Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies and John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. He is also Dean of Harvard Divinity School. He lives in Bedford, MA.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available