The history of evangelical Christianity has seen an enormous flowering of scholarship over the past four decades, spurred in part by interest in understanding Christian conservatism in the U.S. and by the remarkable expansion of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity around the world. Much of the literature on evangelicals turns to the work of David Bebbington as its starting point, especially the “Bebbington quadrilateral” of evangelicalism’s defining traits. One of those traits is biblicism, or the primacy of the Bible as the unique guide to faith. This symposium will explore evangelicals’ uses of the Bible, from Anglican evangelist George Whitefield of the 18th century to African Pentecostals of the 21st century, as it honors one of the great Christian historians in the Anglo-American world.
Sept. 19
3:30 pm: 18th century panel: Kristina Benham; Bruce Hindmarsh; Jonathan Yeager (Bracy Hill, chair)
7 pm: Keynote address: Brian Stanley, University of Edinburgh (Larry Eskridge, chair)
Sept. 20
9:15 am: Pastor Matt Snowden: Devotional
9:30 am: 19th century panel: Elise Leal; Mark Noll; Mary Riso (Andy Tooley, chair)
11:00 am: Keynote: Catherine Brekus, Harvard Divinity School (Beth Allison Barr, chair)
12:30: Lunch and interview with David Bebbington conducted by Barry Hankins (lunch requires preregistration payment)
Break
3 pm: 20th century panel: Malcolm Foley; Timothy Larsen; John Maiden (Stephanie Derrick, chair)
4:30 pm: Keynote: David Bebbington, University of Stirling (Chris Rios, chair)
