Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals
Overview
The Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals from InterVarsity Press contains biographies of more than four hundred prominent evangelicals and evangelical forebearers. Each of these figures has significantly influenced the evangelical community: to learn about them is to better understand the history and present nature of that community.
The volume ranges chronologically from the morning star of the Reformation, John Wycliffe, to important shapers of twentieth-century evangelicalism such as John Stott. The great Reformers, Puritans and Pietists appear alongside the leaders of the eighteenth-century evangelical revival and many of their diverse successors. Ministers and theologians, evangelists and preachers, writers and missionaries, and some from other professions comprise a gallery of notables from the English-speaking evangelical world. Comprehensive and accessible articles combine rigorous historical scholarship with profound human interest.
The Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals is authored by an international team of contributors, including some of the greatest contemporary scholars of evangelicalism. It serves as an invaluable reference tool for students, scholars, ministers and anyone interested in the history of this fascinating movement.
Be sure to read the Author Interview at the InterVarsity Press website. Larsen shares details about what distinguishes BDE from other dictionaries (longer, more detailed entries that go beyond bald facts to offer assessments); insights on why biography is useful to students and others ("I think it is the way into everything. You could track most any theme this way."); quirky facts about famous Christians ("Adam Clarke...taught that Eve was not tempted by a serpent but rather by an orangutan"); and the top five evangelicals from the past that he would invite to a dinner party (you'll have to read it to find out).
Key Features
- Biographies of 400 men and women significant to the evangelical movement [ view full list of entries]
- In-depth and engaging summaries of each individual
- Most articles focus on figures of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
- Includes articles on several evangelical predecessors of the 14th to the 17th centuries
- Features the work of more than 200 expert contributors
Top Highlights
“‘The way to stronger faith usually lies along the rough pathway of sorrow.’” (Page 626)
“For thirty-one years the average attendance for both morning and evening worship was said to approach 6,000” (Page 625)
“Zwingli reached Protestant convictions at about the same time as Luther, largely independently of him. Their backgrounds were different. Luther was taught the ‘modern way’ by the disciples of Gabriel Biel, while Zwingli was trained in the ‘old way’ of Thomas Aquinas. Zwingli was also strongly influenced by the humanism of Erasmus, more so than Luther. As a result of these educational differences, Luther and Zwingli approached theology differently. In particular, Zwingli felt that no doctrine should be contrary to reason, while Luther allowed considerably less role for reason in theology. This difference was seen especially in their respective attitudes towards the presence of Jesus Christ in the Lord’s Supper.” (Page 762)
“On 31 October 1517 Luther posted on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg ninety-five theses protesting against the selling of indulgences and calling for a public debate on this issue. Luther was incensed because members of his own church had purchased indulgences from the Dominican Johann Tetzel. Luther attacked the assumption that forgiveness of sins or release from purgatory could be bought by such a monetary exchange. The sale of indulgences, Luther argued, undermined the sacrament of penance and reinforced a theology of cheap grace.” (Page 377)
“Early in his career Shea signed the ‘Modesto Manifesto’, an agreement with Graham, Cliff Barrows and Grady Wilson designed to preserve their ministerial integrity. They decided not to travel alone with any women besides their wives, avoid boasting about their accomplishments, de-emphasize offerings and forgo public criticism of churches and ministers.” (Page 605)
Praise for the Print Edition
The lives of some 400 notable evangelicals, selected from many countries and centuries, including heroes of the faith, pastors, theologians, missionaries and church leaders, are here summarized with scholarship, warmth and the insight that comes from understanding. The dictionary is the work of an outstanding team of contributors, including many acknowledged experts in their own field. It will prove a much-valued companion for all who seek a wider knowledge of our evangelical inheritance.
—Timothy Dudley-Smith, biographer of John Stott
[4 1/2 Stars Out of 5] " The Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals is an unusual, invaluable collection of 400 brief biographies. Pastors, teachers, and lay people will profit immensely by consulting it often."
This volume will be a highly valuable work of reference. Written by academic specialists, the articles are both authoritative and very readable, lucid and well balanced, generally sympathetic but without being partisan.
—Hugh McLeod, University of Birmingham, England
An impressive work of collective scholarship and admirably wide-ranging, this Biographical Dictionary will be welcomed by all who have an interest in the history of evangelicals, or in religious history more generally. Individual entries are authoritative and valuable in themselves; collectively they serve as a powerful reminder of the complexity, pluralism and international reach of English-speaking evangelicalism as it has evolved over the last five hundred years and more.
—Richard Carwardine, Oxford University
...Each succinctly written article gives sufficient detail, making this much more than a simple who's who. Such evangelists as Oliver Cromwell, Frances Crosby, Billy Graham, Dwight Moody, and William Tyndale are subjects of well-developed essays that are both factual and critical. Most are several pages in length. Entries are signed and conclude with bibliographies encouraging the reader to pursue additional biographical or autobiographical sources.
—Booklist
Any Who’s Who or Who Was Who of evangelical history is bound to be a useful resource, since few such volumes are readily available. This one is especially helpful, comprising nearly 800 pages of information about more than 400 significant evangelical lives — all for a reasonable price!
—Evangelical Times
You will...enjoy reading through this informative volume
—Equip magazine
Product Details
- Title: Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals
- Editor: Timothy Larsen, PhD, FRHistS
- Consulting Editors: D. W. Bebbington and Mark A. Noll
- Publisher: InterVarsity
- Publication Date: 2003
- Page: 789
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
6 ratings
Rodney Holloman
2/25/2017
Enrique Sarria
11/17/2016
Brian J Munro
8/4/2016
John Daily
3/5/2015
A fairly usable resource, despite have been published in 2003. Unfortunately, it is only indexed by name and subject; thus finding (or discovering) evangelicals by doctrine or theology is unnecessarily difficult.
Curtis Dubreuil
8/25/2013
