“’To no man living is it given to write the history of Richmond Coll.’ In this fashion Mr. T. H. Barratt begins his essay; and nobody can be more conscious of this than I. This book represents the effort, and presents the joyous and grateful memories of many Richmond men who have talked together, written to their fellows, and finally offered this tribute to ‘Richmond, our Mother’. I speak for them all in saying that no work will ever be more a labor of love. — From the Preface

This collection of essays celebrates the contribution of John Tudno Williams to the church, to biblical scholarship and teaching, and to the culture of Wales. Written by biblical scholars, historians, theologians, and authorities on Welsh culture, the papers gather around the central theme of the Bible: its interpretation and exegesis and its place in hymns as well as in the visual culture of Welsh Presbyterianism, in theological colleges, and in theological reflection and construction.

There has been much academic debate over recent years on Europe defining itself over against the »Other.« This volume asks from the opposite perspective: What views did non-Europeans hold of »European Christianity«? In this way, the volume turns the agency of definition over to non-Europeans. Over the last centuries, the contacts between Europeans and non-Europeans have been diverse and complex. Non-Europeans encountered Europeans as colonialists, traders, missionaries and travellers. Most of those Europeans were Christians or were perceived as Christians. Therefore, in terms of religion Europe was often identified with Christianity. Europeans thus also conveyed a certain image of Christianity to non-European countries. At the same time, non-Europeans increasingly travelled to Europe and experienced a kind of Christianity that often did not conform to the picture they had formed earlier. Their descriptions of European Christianity ranged from sympathetic acceptance to harsh criticism. The contributions in this volume reveal the breadth of these opinions. They also show that there is no clear line of division between »insiders« and »outsiders«, but that Europeans could sometimes perceive themselves as being »outsiders« in their own culture while non-Europeans could adopt »insider« perspectives. Furthermore, from these encounters new religious and cultural expressions could emerge.

This book addresses several dimensions of the transformation of English Nonconformity over the course of an important century in its history. It begins with the question of education for ministry, considering the activities undertaken by four major evangelical traditions (Congregationalist,Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian) to establish theological colleges for this purpose, and then takes up the complex three-way relationship of ministry/churches/colleges that evolved from these activities. As author Dale Johnson illustrates, this evolution came to have significant implicationsfor the Nonconformist engagement with its message and with the culture at large. These implications are investigated in chapters on the changing perception or understanding of ministry itself, religious authority, theological questions (such as the doctrines of God and the atonement), and religiousidentity.In Johnson's exploration of these issues, conversations about these topics are located primarily in addresses at denominational meetings, conferences that took up specific questions, and representative religious and theological publications of the day that participated in key debates or advocatedcontentious positions. While attending to some important denominational differences, The Changing Shape of English Nonconformity, 1825-1925 focuses on the representative discussion of these topics across the whole spectrum of evangelical Nonconformity rather than on specific denominationaltraditions.Johnson maintains that too many interpretations of nineteenth-century Nonconformity, especially those that deal with aspects of the theological discussion within these traditions, have tended to depict such developments as occasions of decline from earlier phases of evangelical vitality and appeal.This book instead argues that it is more appropriate to assess these Nonconformist developments as a collective, necessary, and deeply serious effort to come to terms with modernity and, further, to retain a responsible understanding of what it meant to be evangelical. It also shows thesedevelopments to be part of a larger schema through which Nonconformity assumed a more prominent place in the English culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Drawing extensively on primary sources, this pioneer work in modern religious history explores the training of preachers, the construction of sermons, and how Irish evangelicalism and the wider movement in Great Britain and the United States shaped the preaching event. Evangelical preaching and politics, sectarianism, denominations, education, class, social reform, gender, and revival are examined to advance the argument that evangelical sermons and preaching went significantly beyond religious discourse. The result is a book for those with interests in Irish history, culture and belief, popular religion and society, evangelicalism, preaching, and communication.