In time for the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Whitefield (pronounced Whit-field), my co-blogger Thomas Kidd has just published a biography of the man he terms Americaâ??s Spiritual Founding Father. [Yale University Press identifies October 28 as the book's release date, but it is already shipping].
Kiddâ??s George Whitefield is an eminently readable and informative book. It begins with a simple yet critical argument: â??George Whitefield was the key figure in the first generation of Anglo-American evangelical Christianity.â? Wesley started what became a major denomination. Edwards made far more serious and sustained theological contributions. Whitefield, though, tied together two continents and â?? with less success â?? a host of Protestant movements for the common cause of spreading â??the new birth.â?
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