Vanity Fair and the Celestial City

Vanity Fair and the Celestial City
Author: Isabel Rivers
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2018-07-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0192542621
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In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the pilgrims cannot reach the Celestial City without passing through Vanity Fair, where everything is bought and sold. In recent years there has been much analysis of commerce and consumption in Britain during the long eighteenth century, and of the dramatic expansion of popular publishing. Similarly, much has been written on the extraordinary effects of the evangelical revivals of the eighteenth century in Britain, Europe, and North America. But how did popular religious culture and the world of print interact? It is now known that religious works formed the greater part of the publishing market for most of the century. What religious books were read, and how? Who chose them? How did they get into people's hands? Vanity Fair and the Celestial City is the first book to answer these questions in detail. It explores the works written, edited, abridged, and promoted by evangelical dissenters, Methodists both Arminian and Calvinist, and Church of England evangelicals in the period 1720 to 1800. Isabel Rivers also looks back to earlier sources and forward to the continued republication of many of these works well into the nineteenth century. The first part is concerned with the publishing and distribution of religious books by commercial booksellers and not-for-profit religious societies, and the means by which readers obtained them and how they responded to what they read. The second part shows that some of the most important publications were new versions of earlier nonconformist, episcopalian, Roman Catholic, and North American works. The third part explores the main literary kinds, including annotated bibles, devotional guides, exemplary lives, and hymns. Building on many years' research into the religious literature of the period, Rivers discusses over two hundred writers and provides detailed case studies of popular and influential works.

Music and the Wesleys

Music and the Wesleys
Author: Nicholas Temperley
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0252077679
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"This book originated in a conference, Music, Cultural History and the Wesleys, hosted by CHOMBEC (Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth) and held at the University of Bristol in July 2007"--Pref.

George Whitefield

George Whitefield
Author: Geordan Hammond
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2016-05-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191064149
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George Whitefield (1714-70) was one of the best known and most widely travelled evangelical revivalist in the eighteenth century. For a time in the middle decades of the eighteenth century, Whitefield was the most famous person on both sides of the Atlantic. An Anglican clergyman, Whitefield soon transcended his denominational context as his itinerant ministry fuelled a Protestant renewal movement in Britain and the American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism, establishing a distinct brand of the movement with a Calvinist orientation, but also the leading itinerant and international preacher of the evangelical movement in its early phase. Called the 'Apostle of the English empire', he preached throughout the whole of the British Isles and criss-crossed the Atlantic seven times, preaching in nearly every town along the eastern seaboard of America. His own fame and popularity were such that he has been dubbed 'Anglo-America's first religious celebrity', and even one of the 'Founding Fathers of the American Revolution'. This collection offers a major reassessment of Whitefield's life, context, and legacy, bringing together a distinguished interdisciplinary team of scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. In chapters that cover historical, theological, and literary themes, many addressed for the first time, the volume suggests that Whitefield was a highly complex figure who has been much misunderstood. Highly malleable, Whitefield's persona was shaped by many audiences during his lifetime and continues to be highly contested.

Wesley and Whitefield? Wesley versus Whitefield?

Wesley and Whitefield? Wesley versus Whitefield?
Author: Ian J. Maddock
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2018-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498290671
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John Wesley and George Whitefield were in many ways larger-than-life figures during their own lifetimes and continue to be so today. Yet our ability to appreciate their abiding influence on contemporary Evangelical theology and practice is lacking if we consider them in isolation from one another. Our understanding of Wesley and the legacy of his public ministry is impoverished apart from considering Whitefield (and vice versa). This collection of essays explores the complex dynamics at work in the Wesley-Whitefield relationship, spanning a variety of theological, historical, and pastoral facets of their full-orbed public ministries. They serve as an invitation to grow in our awareness of their undoubted affinities and significant differences, all the while resisting the potential allure of either uncritically ecumenical “Wesley and” or uncharitably partisan “Whitefield versus” narratives.

It Is the Same Light

It Is the Same Light
Author: Daljit Singh Jawa
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 701
Release: 2015-03-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1503545903
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Sri Guru Granth Sahib is generally known as the holy scripture of Sikhism, the worlds fifth largest religion. But this holy scripture is neither a storybook nor just the philosophy of the Sikh saints or prophets. It is more like a collection of divine revelations and hymns, expressing the feelings of love and devotion of the Sikh Gurus for the Supreme Being, along with the similar yearnings and longings of the devotees and saints from all faiths prevalent in Indian subcontinent during those times. The beauty of this 1430 page hymnal written in 22 different languages lies in the fact that while it spiritually connects the human mind to the original source of eternal bliss, it provides a very practical and effective way to live in love and harmony with other fellow human beings irrespective of their faith, color, caste, creed, or race. The following are a few examples of the views of eminent writers and scholars regarding Sri Guru Granth Sahib: Mankinds religious future may be obscure, yet one thing can be foreseen. The living higher religions are going to influence each other more than ever before, in the days of increasing communications between all parts of the world and branches of the human race. In this coming religious debate, the Sikh religion and its scriptures, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib will have something of special value to say to the rest of the world. Arnold Toynbee- Historian I have studied the scripture of great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I find here in these volumes [of Sri Guru Granth Sahib]. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures. They speak to the people of any religion or of none. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind. Mrs. Pearl S. Buck- Nobel Laureate In Volume five of the It Is The Same Light series (SGGS pages 801-1000), author Daljit Singh Jawa continues his humble effort to share the beauty of the SGGS with those who have limited familiarity with the language (Gurumukhi), history, or context. The following are some of the comments received on the volume 7 (pages 1201-1430 of SGGS): This translation of Guru Granth Sahib is one of the best English translations in my view, as it is in simple understandable English, each shabads summary message is given, there is connection between the shabads to reveal continuity of thought process in Guru jis message. Thanks to S Daljit Singh ji for the great work which will benefit future generations understand Guru Jis message easily. -Amarjit Singh, M.D., University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY A monumental undertaking, reflecting a lifetime of devotion to the Sri Guru Granth Sahib and to the scholarly study of its voluminous texts. Both its rendition of the original Gurmukhi script, with accompanying English transliteration, and its erudite commentary on each of the Granths many hymns mark this work as a stunning achievement which will benefit all serious students of the Sikh religion and of world religions in general. -Barry Crawford, Ph.D., Washburn Univesity, Topeka, Kansas

Hear the Melody, Live the Harmony

Hear the Melody, Live the Harmony
Author: Paulette Camnetar Meeks
Publisher: Xulon Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2013-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781628390858
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Hear the Melody, Live the Harmony is a daily devotional focusing on God communicating within us. It is His Joy to always be with us and talk with us. Paulette shares God's response to her daily invitations with you, her readers. It is her prayer that you, too, will always hear His songs within you. She presents this book as a small seed to help you find the personal heart-songs God has for you. The daily responses are simple inspirations offered to live in harmony within God's melody, making the most ordinary life, extraordinary. Paulette Camnetar Meeks is a seventy-three year old Christian widow, grandmother, and author. She served many years as a Daughter of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, a missionary, an inter-Faith minister, a teacher and a volunteer to the elderly. She continues to teach children and is a volunteer visitor to many senior friends in nursing homes. Married at the age of sixty-one, she says, "God saved the best for last," referring to her beloved husband, William David Meeks. "Then, my three grandchildren added more sweetness to my life." She is the author of two other books, The Best for Last: One Woman's Unusual Tale of Life and Love, and Been There, Done That, Really! Concerning these books, which were authored after she turned seventy, she says, "God won't let me worry. As soon as I get a drop of worry in my brain, He puts a book on my heart. And all worry time disappears."