Ryan P Hoselton

This book explores the early evangelical quest for enlightenment by the Spirit and the Word. While the pursuit originated in the Protestant Reformation, it assumed new forms in the long eighteenth-century context of the early Enlightenment and transatlantic awakened Protestant reform. This work illuminates these transformations by focusing on the dynamic intersection of experimental philosophy and experimental religion in the biblical practices of early America’s most influential Protestant theologians, Cotton Mather (1663-1728) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). As the first book-length project to treat Mather and Edwards together, this study makes an important contribution to the extensive scholarship on these figures, opening new perspectives on the continuities and complexities of colonial New England religion. It also provides new insights and interpretive interventions concerning the history of the Bible, early modern intellectual history, and evangelicalism’s complex relationship to the Enlightenment.

This book explores the early evangelical quest for enlightenment by the Spirit and the Word. While the pursuit originated in the Protestant Reformation, it assumed new forms in the long eighteenth-century context of the early Enlightenment and transatlantic awakened Protestant reform. This work illuminates these transformations by focusing on the dynamic intersection of experimental philosophy and experimental religion in the biblical practices of early America’s most influential Protestant theologians, Cotton Mather (1663-1728) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). As the first book-length project to treat Mather and Edwards together, this study makes an important contribution to the extensive scholarship on these figures, opening new perspectives on the continuities and complexities of colonial New England religion. It also provides new insights and interpretive interventions concerning the history of the Bible, early modern intellectual history, and evangelicalism’s complex relationship to the Enlightenment.

The English Baptist Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) is well-known today for his nuanced Evangelical answer to the ""Modern Question"" against hyper-Calvinism, founding and leading the Baptist Missionary Society, and his exemplary pastoral ministry. In his day, however, he was also esteemed as a formidable apologist for Christian orthodoxy, especially in the area of moral reasoning. Following in the footsteps of his theological mentor, Jonathan Edwards, Fuller labored to defend the moral goodness and salutary nature of Christian doctrine against the new moral philosophy of the Enlightenment. As optimism in the moral potential of human nature waxed, reliance on God for truth and virtue waned. Echoing a long tradition of classical theologians, Fuller wished to declare afresh that the love of God, as manifested in the gospel, furnished humankind's only hope for virtue, excellence, and happiness. In this concise study, Hoselton looks to recover the importance of ethical reasoning in Fuller's theology and ministry and reflect on its merit for today. ""This new study of Andrew Fuller's theology of virtue is both a helpful contribution to the field and a needed pastoral reminder. Fuller challenged key heresies of his day by advocating a view of the Christian life that seamlessly wed sound doctrine and Christian virtue. For Fuller, these themes came together in an Edwardsean version of evangelical Calvinism. Evangelicals need more of this sort of pastoral theology today, and Fuller offers a fine role model for how to do it well."" --Nathan A. Finn, Dean, School of Theology and Missions, Union University Ryan P. Hoselton is an instructor and doctoral candidate in church history at Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg in Germany, and a Junior Fellow of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies.

The English Baptist Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) is well-known today for his nuanced Evangelical answer to the ""Modern Question"" against hyper-Calvinism, founding and leading the Baptist Missionary Society, and his exemplary pastoral ministry. In his day, however, he was also esteemed as a formidable apologist for Christian orthodoxy, especially in the area of moral reasoning. Following in the footsteps of his theological mentor, Jonathan Edwards, Fuller labored to defend the moral goodness and salutary nature of Christian doctrine against the new moral philosophy of the Enlightenment. As optimism in the moral potential of human nature waxed, reliance on God for truth and virtue waned. Echoing a long tradition of classical theologians, Fuller wished to declare afresh that the love of God, as manifested in the gospel, furnished humankind's only hope for virtue, excellence, and happiness. In this concise study, Hoselton looks to recover the importance of ethical reasoning in Fuller's theology and ministry and reflect on its merit for today. ""This new study of Andrew Fuller's theology of virtue is both a helpful contribution to the field and a needed pastoral reminder. Fuller challenged key heresies of his day by advocating a view of the Christian life that seamlessly wed sound doctrine and Christian virtue. For Fuller, these themes came together in an Edwardsean version of evangelical Calvinism. Evangelicals need more of this sort of pastoral theology today, and Fuller offers a fine role model for how to do it well."" --Nathan A. Finn, Dean, School of Theology and Missions, Union University Ryan P. Hoselton is an instructor and doctoral candidate in church history at Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg in Germany, and a Junior Fellow of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies.