Divine healing is commonly practiced today throughout Christendom and plays a significant part in the advance of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Such wide acceptance of the doctrine within Protestantism did not come without hesitation or controversy. The prevailing view saw suffering as a divine chastening designed for growth in personal holiness, and something to be faced with submission and endurance. It was not until the nineteenth century that this understanding began to be seriously questioned. This book details those individuals and movements that proved radical enough in their theology and practice to play a part in overturning mainstream opinion on suffering. James Robinson opens up a treasury of largely unknown or forgotten material that extends our understanding of Victorian Christianity and the precursors to the Pentecostal revival that helped shape Christianity in the twentieth century.

Divine healing is commonly practiced today throughout Christendom and plays a significant part in the advance of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Such wide acceptance of the doctrine within Protestantism did not come without hesitation or controversy. The prevailing view saw suffering as a divine chastening designed for growth in personal holiness, and something to be faced with submission and endurance. It was not until the nineteenth century that this understanding began to be seriously questioned. This book details those individuals and movements that proved radical enough in their theology and practice to play a part in overturning mainstream opinion on suffering. James Robinson opens up a treasury of largely unknown or forgotten material that extends our understanding of Victorian Christianity and the precursors to the Pentecostal revival that helped shape Christianity in the twentieth century.

Divine healing is commonly practiced today throughout Christendom and plays a significant part in the advance of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Such wide acceptance of the doctrine within Protestantism did not come without hesitation or controversy. The prevailing view saw suffering as a divine chastening designed for growth in personal holiness, and something to be faced with submission and endurance. It was not until the nineteenth century that this understanding began to be seriously questioned. This book details those individuals and movements that proved radical enough in their theology and practice to play a part in overturning mainstream opinion on suffering. James Robinson opens up a treasury of largely unknown or forgotten material that extends our understanding of Victorian Christianity and the precursors to the Pentecostal revival that helped shape Christianity in the twentieth century.

In the present volume, James Robinson shows how the Holiness movement contributed to the rise of Pentecostalism, with emphasis on those sectors that practiced divine healing. Although other scholars have undertaken to explore this story, Robinson's treatment is by far the most thorough examination to date. He draws productively on the burgeoning secondary literatures on Pentecostalism and healing, and brings to light frequently overlooked, yet revealing primary sources. The events narrated are fascinating in their own right, and are important to the histories of Pentecostalism and healing for how they clarify the processes by which divine healing was pursued, debated, and often disparaged. The text also contributes to larger medical and social histories, offering tantalizing glimpses of the roots of some of today's most popular and contested medical and religious responses to sickness and health.

In the present volume James Robinson completes his trilogy, which deals with the history of divine healing in the period 1906-1930. The first volume is a study of the years 1830-1890, and was hailed as "a standard reference for years to come." The second book covers the years 1890-1906, and was acclaimed as "a monumental achievement" that combines "careful historical scholarship and a high degree of accessibility." This volume completes the study up to the early 1930s and, like the other two works, has a transatlantic frame of reference. Though the book gives prominence to the theology and practice of divine healing in early Pentecostalism, it also discusses two other models of healing, the therapeutic and sacramental, promoted within sections of British and American Anglicanism. Some otherwise rigorous Fundamentalists were also prepared to practice divine healing. The text contributes more widely to medical and sociocultural histories, exemplified in the rise of psychotherapy and the cultural shift referred to as the Jazz Age of the 1920s. The book concludes by discussing the major role that divine healing plays in the present rapid growth of global Christianity.

In the present volume James Robinson completes his trilogy, which deals with the history of divine healing in the period 1906-1930. The first volume is a study of the years 1830-1890, and was hailed as "a standard reference for years to come." The second book covers the years 1890-1906, and was acclaimed as "a monumental achievement" that combines "careful historical scholarship and a high degree of accessibility." This volume completes the study up to the early 1930s and, like the other two works, has a transatlantic frame of reference. Though the book gives prominence to the theology and practice of divine healing in early Pentecostalism, it also discusses two other models of healing, the therapeutic and sacramental, promoted within sections of British and American Anglicanism. Some otherwise rigorous Fundamentalists were also prepared to practice divine healing. The text contributes more widely to medical and sociocultural histories, exemplified in the rise of psychotherapy and the cultural shift referred to as the Jazz Age of the 1920s. The book concludes by discussing the major role that divine healing plays in the present rapid growth of global Christianity.

Following the theology of mission developed by John Wesley, thousands of men and women have engaged in domestic and international missions. But why did they go? Why do they continue to go today? In The Use of the Old Testament in a Wesleyan Theologyof Mission, Gordon Snider examines the Wesleyan understanding of mission in the light of the Old Testament. What theology from God's Old Covenant gave Wesleyans their drive to impact nations, and how did it shape their missionary strategies? Drawing upon a range of primary sources, he examines how a number of influential speakers in the Wesleyan tradition, particularly the founders and spokespeople of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, have used the Old Testament to inform theirtheology of mission. Snider provides an insight into the works of the important theologians Thomas Coke, Jabez Bunting, Adam Clarke, Richard Watson, Daniel Whedon and Edmund Cook. Focusing on the movement of Wesleyan Theology from Great Britain to North America, Snider analyses how this affected Wesleyan ideas of holiness, eschatology and divine healing. Readers of this volume will discover why Wesleyan Christians go into the world and gain a deeper understanding of missions.