Among the Early Evangelicals

The Transatlantic Origins of the Stone-Campbell Movement

James L. Gorman

• Publisher: Abilene Christian University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780891125822
• eBook ISBN:
  9781684269907
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

Though many of its early leaders were immigrants, most histories of the Stone-Campbell Movement have focused on the unique, American-only message of the Movement. Typically, the story tells the efforts of Christians seeking to restore New Testament Christianity or to promote unity and cooperation among believers.
Among the Early Evangelicals charts a new path showing convincingly that the earliest leaders of this Movement cannot be understood apart from a robust evangelical and missionary culture that traces its roots back to the eighteenth century. Leaders, including such luminaries as Thomas and Alexander Campbell, borrowed freely from the outlook, strategies, and methodologies of this transatlantic culture. More than simple Christians with a unique message shaped by frontier democratization, the adherents in the Stone-Campbell Movement were active participants in a broadly networked, uniquely evangelical enterprise.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Chapter One Reframing the Religious and Historical Context of the Campbell Movement
• Chapter Two The Rise of Transatlantic Evangelical Missions in the Eighteenth Century
• Chapter Three The Explosion of Transatlantic Evangelical Missions in the 1790s
• Chapter Four Thomas Campbell’s Formative Background in Irish Evangelical Missions
• Chapter Five The Influence of Scottish Evangelical Missions on Alexander Campbell
• Chapter Six From the British Isles to the United States: The Christian Association of Washington, 1809–1812
• Chapter Seven A Baptist and Anti-Missionary Viewpoint, 1812–1830
• Chapter Eight Conclusion: The Campbell Movement’s Roots in Transatlantic Evangelical Missions
• Postscript Viewing Campbell Movement Churches through a New Lens
• Bibliography