The Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century took place during a period of great cultural change in Europe. Enlightenment thinkers challenged the traditional sources of authority including the church. Traditionally, evangelicalism has been seen as opposed to the Enlightenment; even being regarded as a Counter-Enlightenment movement. In this paper I will provide an explanation for why this evaluation is not entirely valid by considering to what extent early Methodism was influenced by the Enlightenment era. After providing a brief description of the Enlightenment I will present the evidence for and against the assessment that eighteenth-century evangelicalism was an anti-Enlightenment movement.
The Age of Enlightenment
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) published an essay in 1784 called Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (Answering the question: What is Enlightenment?).[1] Kant wrote that they were living in an age of enlightenment. He argued that “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.”[2] He believed that the advancement in knowledge, through the progress of science and understanding of nature, would drive human consciousness towards maturity.[3] The motto of the Enlightenment was Sapere aude! (Dare to be wise!)[4] The Enlightenment in the eighteenth century was a movement of progressive and liberal ideas and opinions in Europe and North America that were advanced by the leading intellectuals and propagandists of the day (philosophes).[5] The origins of the Enlightenment can be traced to English Deism in the late seventeenth century.[6] Isaac Newton (1643-1727) described a regular, ordered universe which worked like a machine and was designed by an intelligent creator.[7] As order and rational laws were discovered in the physical universe, the philosophes looked for order and reason in the human institutions that governed society.[8] They questioned the authority of traditional institutions such as the church or the state, instead looking to reason as the way humanity would establish truth.[9]
Among the principal thinkers of the Enlightenment were Voltaire (1694–1778), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Denis Diderot (1713–1784), and David Hume (1711–1776).[10] These intellectual elite were described by Robert Darnton as the High Enlightenment.[11] They had access to money and facilities for printing and to the clubs and salons of high society. The Encyclopédie launched in 1751 by Diderot and d’Alembert,[12] defined the philosophe as one who “trampling on prejudice, tradition, universal consent, authority, in a word, all that enslaves most minds, dares to think for himself.”[13] Change was also happening in the working class and bourgeoisie, despite access to wealth and status being limited, literacy rates were increasing.[14] This Low Enlightenment was where the hacks of Grub Street operated, amongst the lowest levels of society.[15] The Enlightenment was thus a period of cultural and intellectual change which occurred both in the elite and the lower classes.
The Case For: Evangelical Revival as a Counter-Enlightenment movement
In this first part of my assessment I will present the case for the Evangelical Revival as a Counter-Enlightenment movement that was opposed to Enlightenment ideas.
A. The Enlightenment was irreligious in nature.
Like many of the Enlightenment thinkers, Voltaire was a deist.[16] Deists believed in a God who created the world to work on natural law, like a perfect machine, but who was no longer present working with the creation through revelation or miracles.[17] Deists therefore rejected much of orthodox Christianity – the Bible, the miracles in the Gospels, the incarnation and the resurrection.[18] To Enlightenment thinkers, these were superstitions and were discarded in favour of reason.[19] Voltaire wrote, “I believe in God, not the god of the mystics and the theologians but the god of nature, the great geometrician, the architect of the universe, the prime mover, unalterable, transcendent, everlasting.”[20] Voltaire spoke against what he saw as the evils of religion and set out to Écrasez l’infâme (destroy the infamous one).[21] Others, including the French philosophes who contributed to the Encyclopédie, were atheists.[22] John Locke (1632-1704) favoured empiricism over revelation and so rejected any doctrines of Christianity which could not be proven empirically.[23] In the Reasonableness of Christianity (1695) Locke argued that Christianity should be subjected to the same rigorous tests that were applied in the field of science.[24] He did not dispute the existence of God because reason would suggest that the existence of a creator was inevitable. However, other Christian doctrines, such as the immortality of the soul, could not be proved by reason but only by revelation. Locke argued that only reason could provide knowledge and so rejected revelation.[25]
B. The scepticism of Enlightenment thinkers.
Scottish philosopher David Hume held a sceptical view concerning the miracles recorded in the New Testament.[26] In his Essay on Miracles (1748), he demonstrated the miracles, such as the resurrection, could not be proved by evidence, as there were no contemporary examples, but only by human testimony. For Hume, human testimony was not sufficient proof and so this raised doubts about the accounts in the New Testament.[27] This scepticism inevitably lead to doubting the certainty of knowing absolute truths.[28] Enlightenment thinkers had doubts about the Bible and were against the idea of authority by revelation. Evangelicalism stood against this position of scepticism.[29] John Wesley believed in the authority of the Bible and faith as the “divine evidence” for the things of God.[30] For Wesley Scripture was the revealed Word of God and revelation was just as important as reason to him, in contrast to the scepticism of Enlightenment thinkers.[31]
C. Evangelical Revival is unenlightened.
There were aspects of the revival, particularly within Methodism, which were viewed as unenlightened. The “emotional transports” of Methodism were regarded as “deluding the common people about their true interests.”[32] The talk of revival conversions spreading like fire with descriptions such as “the dales are flaming” and “the fire hath caught, and runs from one dale to another” were interpreted as the revival being more heat than light.[33] George Whitefield weeping whilst preaching and other beliefs, such as the doctrine of Christian perfection amongst revivalists, were viewed as irrational.[34] This enthusiasm of Methodism was condemned by both the established church and Enlightenment thought.[35] Bishop Lavington wrote the Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists Compar’d (1749-51) in which he attacked John Wesley and Methodism about their enthusiasm.[36] The accusation was not entirely fair as Wesley wrote over two hundred times about enthusiasm, mostly in defence of the attacks on Methodism but also to warn his followers against false claims of divine intervention.[37] Wesley used the Bible to differentiate between the cases which went beyond what was described in Scripture, labelling them as enthusiasm, and the occasions when God appeared to intervene in creation that were in line with the Biblical narrative.[38] He would rarely support claims for divine intervention which were not aligned with the Bible and therefore the Enlightenment criticism of enthusiasm levelled at Methodism is perhaps unjustified.[39]
D. Summary.
The case that the Evangelical Revival was a Counter-Enlightenment movement is based on the two premises that firstly the Enlightenment was inherently antagonistic to spiritual religion and secondly that revival was unenlightened.[40] David Bebbington believes that both these premises are open to question and maintains that “the Evangelical Revival may have shared the characteristic worldview of progressive eighteenth-century opinion to a far greater extent than has normally been supposed.”[41] I will next look at the evidence that supports Bebbington’s thesis.
The Case Against: Evangelical Revival aligned with the Enlightenment
In this second part of the assessment I will present the case that rather than being an anti-Enlightenment movement, the Evangelical Revival was more aligned with the Enlightenment than has traditionally been suggested. I will focus on Wesley and the Methodist movement in order to provide examples which illustrate the claim.
A. The characteristics of the revival reflect those of the Enlightenment.
Wesley was certainly not opposed to reason and claimed that “to renounce reason is to renounce religion.”[42] He rejected the scepticism of the Enlightenment but was an empiricist.[43] Furthermore he disliked enthusiasm and was in favour of appealing to rational, scriptural evidence, even to the extent that the Moravians accused Wesley of being “full of law and reason.”[44] Other evangelical leaders such as Henry Venn, Vicar of Huddersfield, were also dedicated to the empirical method and appealed to authority not just in Scripture but “to observation and Scripture.”[45] Wesley shared some of the Enlightenment values of religious tolerance, freewill and anti-slavery.[46] The evangelical preference to knowledge based on their own experience rather than accepted received tradition, urging laypeople to read the Bible for themselves, is in accord with Enlightenment thinking.[47] The evangelical concern for the assurance of salvation reveals a close affinity to the Enlightenment.[48] Wesley desperately wanted the assurance, writing in his journal: “I want that faith which none can have without knowing that he hath it.”[49] Wesley agreed with Locke with regards to human understanding being based in experience rather than being innate and explicitly appealed to Locke’s authority in his writing, whilst disagreeing with some of Locke’s views.[50] There is thus a high degree of alignment between the characteristics of the Evangelical Revival, particularly as witnessed in Methodism, and the Enlightenment. That is not to say that the Enlightenment created evangelicalism, rather that evangelicals were happy to utilise Enlightenment methods and thought.[51]
B. The optimism of the Enlightenment was also shared by evangelicals.
The later part of the eighteenth century saw a rise in optimism about the potential for humanity’s improvement with the development of the idea of progress.[52] Evangelicals shared the optimism of the age, which is demonstrated by the Arminianism of Methodism. The “optimism of grace,” that there was the potential that all could be saved rather than just the elect, provided hope for many.[53] Evangelicals also believed that God wished human beings to be happy and Wesley would use the principle that “Holiness is happiness.”[54] Society also saw happiness as a proper goal for individuals.[55] Methodists went further with the belief that human perfection was achievable where it was possible to be free of sin. Although Wesley differed from Enlightenment thinking here in that he believed only those who were spiritually reformed could attain it as opposed to the whole of humanity.[56] The basis for evangelical optimism was the providence of God.[57] God was active in creation by divine interventions, in contrast to the distant deist god of the Enlightenment thinkers. Millennialism was a widespread intellectual concern with the expectation of a future state of happiness on the earth.[58]For many evangelicals, although by no means all (notably Whitefield), millennialism coupled with the idea of progress, was a further expression of optimism.[59]
C. A shared ethical and humanitarian emphasis.
Evangelicals denounced clergymen who preached mere morality because of the belief that salvation was not by works but through faith.[60] However, this did not prevent the need for moral practice among evangelicals. Haweis’s Evangelical Principles and Practice (1762) put more emphasis on practice than principles.[61] Whitefield defined true religion as “a universal morality founded upon love of God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”[62] Evangelicals were generous and philanthropy was actively encouraged.[63] Although this expression of good works was not inspired by the Enlightenment, it was in keeping with the benevolent spirit of the age. In contrast, the anti-slavery movement was a fruit of the Enlightenment, but adopted by evangelicals who took up the cause.
D. Summary.
There are further examples, such as the role of education, the doctrinal moderation of Latitudinarianism, the adoption of the Augustan spirit of the age and pragmatism, which all serve to illustrate how the Evangelical Revival was aligned with the Enlightenment rather than being opposed to it. Hempton concludes that many of the paradoxes and ambiguities of early Methodism are due to the fact that it was “a movement of religious enthusiasts coming of age in the era of the Enlightenment.”[64] Not all scholars agree with Bebbington arguments. Garry Williams challenges Bebbington’s assertion that evangelicalism found its roots in the Enlightenment. Instead, Williams traces evangelicalism back to Puritanism and the Reformation.[65]
Conclusion
I have considered the question of whether or not eighteenth-century evangelicalism was a Counter-Enlightenment movement. In answering the question I have made the case for and against the assessment by using examples which support and oppose the proposition. I have made a particular focus on John Wesley and Methodism as representative of the Evangelical Revival.
The Enlightenment of the eighteenth century brought about an era of great cultural change in Europe and North America. The Evangelical Revival of the same period has traditionally been viewed as a movement which was anti-Enlightenment. Whilst it is true to say that elements of the Enlightenment, deism, atheism and scepticism, can be viewed as antagonistic towards evangelicalism, the revival shares much common ground with the Enlightenment. Evangelicalism can trace its roots to before the Enlightenment, but the expression of evangelicalism seen in the revival has been enriched by Enlightenment ideas and methodologies. Early Methodism was not a reaction to the Enlightenment, but rather the culmination of the ideas of that age. The characteristics of eighteenth-century evangelicalism were thus aligned with those of the Enlightenment.
Bibliography
Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
Bebbington, David W. “Revival and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England.” Pages 17-41 in Modern Christian Revivals. Edited by Edith L. Blumhofer and Randall Balmer. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Darnton, Robert. “The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature in Pre-Revolutionary France.” Past & Present 51(1971): 81-115.
Eckman, James P. Exploring Church History. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002.
Hempton, David. Methodism: Empire of the Spirit. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005.
Johnson, Paul. A History of Christianity. London: Penguin, 1976.
Kant, Immanuel. An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? Translated by H. B. Nisbet. London: Penguin, 2009.
McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Noll, Mark A. The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003.
Porter, Roy. Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World. Kindle. London: Penguin, 2000.
—. The Enlightenment by Roy Porter: The Guardian. 12 June 2001. <http://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/jun/12/artsandhumanities.highereducation> (26 February 2015).
Wesley, John. “An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion.” Pages 37– 50 in The Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion and Certain Related Open Letters in volume 11 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley. Edited by Gerald R. Gragg. Oxford: Clarendon, 1975.
Williams, Garry J. “Was Evangelicalism Created By The Enlightenment?” Tyndale Bulletin 53, no. 2(2002): 283-312.
[1] Roy Porter, Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World (Kindle; London: Penguin, 2000), location 427.
[2] Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? (London: Penguin, 2009), 1.
[3] Roy Porter, “The Enlightenment” n.p. 12 June 2001. <http://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/ jun/12/artsandhumanities.highereducation> (26 February 2015).
[4] Kant, What is Enlightenment?, 1.
[5] Porter, “The Enlightenment”.
[6] Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 67.
[7] McGrath, Christian Theology, 67.
[8] James P. Eckman, Exploring Church History (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002), 71.
[9] David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 50.
[10] Eckman, Exploring Church History, 71.
[11] Robert Darnton, “The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature in Pre-Revolutionary France,” Past & Present 51 (1971), 82.
[12] Porter, Enlightenment, location 567.
[13] Porter, “The Enlightenment”.
[14] Porter, “The Enlightenment”.
[15] Darnton, “The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature in Pre-Revolutionary France,” 93.
[16] Eckman, Exploring Church History, 72.
[17] Eckman, Exploring Church History, 72.
[18] Eckman, Exploring Church History, 73.
[19] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 50.
[20] Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity (London: Penguin, 1976), 350.
[21] Porter, “The Enlightenment”.
[22] Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003), 150.
[23] Eckman, Exploring Church History, 72.
[24] Johnson, A History of Christianity, 335.
[25] Johnson, A History of Christianity, 336.
[26] Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 150.
[27] McGrath, Christian Theology, 69.
[28] Eckman, Exploring Church History, 72.
[29] Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 150.
[30] John Wesley, “An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion,” in The Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion and Certain Related Open Letters in volume 11 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (ed. Gerald R. Gragg; Oxford: Clarendon, 1975), 46.
[31] Wesley, “An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion,” 49.
[32] David W. Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England,” in Modern Christian Revivals (ed. Edith L. Blumhofer and Randall Balmer; Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 18.
[33] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 18.
[34] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 18.
[35] David Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005),33.
[36] Hempton, Methodism, 33.
[37] Hempton, Methodism, 35.
[38] Hempton, Methodism, 35.
[39] Hempton, Methodism, 37.
[40] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 17.
[41] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 18.
[42] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 52.
[43] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 52.
[44] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 52.
[45] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 24.
[46] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 52; Hempton, Methodism, 41.
[47] Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 150.
[48] Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 151.
[49] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 49.
[50] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 49.
[51] Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 151.
[52] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 60.
[53] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 60.
[54] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 60.
[55] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 25.
[56] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 60.
[57] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 61.
[58] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 62.
[59] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 25.
[60] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 26.
[61] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 26.
[62] Bebbington, “Revival and Enlightenment,” 26.
[63] Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 70.
[64] Hempton, Methodism, 54.
[65] Garry J. Williams, “Was Evangelicalism Created By The Enlightenment?,” Tyndale Bulletin 53 (2002), 286.
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