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Ausgabe: | November/2022 |
Spalte: | 1066–1067 |
Kategorie: | Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Clary, Ian Hugh |
Titel/Untertitel: | Reformed Evangelicalism and the Search for a Usable Past. Theo Historiography of Arnold Dallimore, Pastor-Historian. |
Verlag: | Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2020. 226 S. = Reformed Historical Theology, 61. Geb. EUR 110,00. ISBN 9783525567241. |
Rezensent: | Edward George Manger |
Ian Hugh Clary has provided a significant contribution to the developing field of the history of evangelical historical writing in this volume about the, hitherto unstudied, popular historian Arnold Dallimore. The strengths of this work are many; firstly and crucially C. grounds the historical writings of Dallimore firmly in a narrative of the historians life and work and church background. In doing so the reader is afforded a keen and sympathetic insight into the task of Dallimore and the passions and predispositions which led him to his much admired work on Whitfield and led him into the discipline of historical writing, to which he was not previously accustom and in which he had received no formal training. The main argument of the book is that Dallimore was in effect creating a usable past, writing history from a particular angle for a par-ticular purpose and did not shy away from presenting lessons for the contemporary church through historical narrative, especially in his smaller biographies of Edward Irving, Charles Spurgeon and Susanna Wesley.
In order to do this C. opens the book with a very helpful section on evangelical debates regarding the proper way to conduct history. By citing reviews, blog posts and opinion pieces from key figures within the Reformed evangelical world C. is able to chart debates over the tension for evangelical historians between objective scholarly writing and a commitment to evangelical beliefs, especially the supernatural governance of God over his church played out in history. C. puts Dallimore squarely within the »supernaturalist« camp as a historian who, for instance, viewed re-vivals not primarily from the standpoint historical causation, but as a work of God manifested in the power of Gospel preaching. Yet C. still argues that Dallimore should be considered a true historian, just not a professional academic historian as he does conform to high standards of historical research and writing but popularized and used history more readily than perhaps is palatable to the academy.
Another strength of the work is that C. takes seriously the mileau of the popular history readership so crucial to the formation of evangelical identity, something that can be missed with an exclu-sive focus on academic histories of evangelicalism. What emerges is the clear picture of an Reformed evangelicalism that is powerfully committed to its past and its heritage, enthused by and engaged with the lives of those that have gone before, but con-cerned to avoid the pitfalls of hagiography or triumphalism. This is the middle ground C. believes Dallimore should be conceived of as taking.
C. attempts to be, and to some extend succeeds in being, critical of Dallimore, pointing out for example places in which he manipulates a quote from the sources to fit the flow of his work more satisfactorily. More problematic for some readers will no doubt be the handling of Dallimore's discussions of slavery. C. sees it as an argument in Dallimore's favor that he is willing to address the question of Whitefield's relationship to slavery, presenting this as a reason that Dallimore should be seen as reaching a certain level of objectivity and not idolizing his subject. Yet at this particular moment with the developments in the historiography of slavery and abolitionism of recent years, as well as contemporary debates about the evangelical churches complicity in racism one might be dissatisfied with this assessment and expect to see here a more nuanced view of Dallimore.
As the book moves on to the Dallimore's lesser biographies the argument strengthens and Dallimore is presented as a far more contentious figure in his use of history. C. clearly demonstrates the willingness of Dallimore to address problems he saw in the contemporary evangelical church by creating a narrative of earlier movements about which he had significant concerns, most strik-ingly with the burgeoning charismatic movement. This is seen nowhere more than in the biography of Edward Irving. C. is very critical about the way Dallimore unashamedly used Irving's life to malign charismatics from very limited range of primary sources.
Overall this is an impressive work, engaging and thought provoking, and no doubt could lead to, or spawn many more such works investigating the scholarship of other popular historians who's work has had such a high impact on the church, but received little attention. This is a very welcome first step in that direction, which this reviewer hopes will broaden and deepen our understanding of how histories and historical biographies continue to shape and influence the Reformed evangelical tradition.