Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography
In this bold, transformative biography of a remarkable Victorian naturalist and leading figure among evangelical Christians known as Brethren, P. H. Gosse is finally freed from the inaccurate image of him presented by his son, Edmund Gosse, and others. As a naturalist, Gosse was a pio-neer, innovator, and entrepreneur who was renowned as an observer, […]
From Friends to Brethren
This study of the Howard family of Tottenham and Ackworth is an illuminating perspective on how particular religious convictions, once adopted by some family members, can spread throughout, and bind, the kinship group. The Howards were longstanding Quakers and were at the leading edge of science in their day. Luke Howard was the first to […]
From Glasgow to Garenganze
Inspired by his contact with David Livingstone, Arnot left Glasgow in 1881, heading for the heart of central Africa where he penetrated areas where no missionaries had been before. A ‘chance’ meeting drew him to Katanga in Southern Congo, where he encountered Msiri, king of an extensive empire, and started mission work He recruited teams […]
Daniel J. Danielsen and the Congo
Brethren engaged closely with the question of the treatment of native people both in Portuguese West Africa and in the Belgian Congo. The protagonist in the case of the Congo was Daniel J. Danielsen, an evangelist and missionary from the Faroes. Danielson played a crucial role in spreading the gospel through the Brethren in the […]
Fishers of Men
Walter Fisher and Anna Darling went to central Africa around 1890 in the steps of explorers like Livingstone and F. S. Arnot. They were following the call to spread the gospel where Christ was not known. This book underlines the sheer heroism and perseverance that the call entailed for them, and others like them. It […]
Charisma and Organization
Evangelicals are often criticized for the multiplication among them of both separate denominational groups and parachurch bodies. The Open Brethren were, in the words of one description, ‘evangelicals of the evangelicals’. But they largely avoided splitting into denominational groups by developing a strong doctrine of the autonomy of the local church and denying that the […]
Ernest and May Trenchard
The British Brethren missionaries Ernest and May Trenchard devoted their lives to serving the Church in Spain. planting congregations and forming leaders at a time when much activity in evangelism, teaching, and publishing had to be undertaken clandestinely. Such service came at significant personal cost, and this book explores what it meant to minister in […]
Brethren and the Church
Prominent in any study of the Church and the Brethren movement has been the story of the search for primitive biblical practice that led some to insist that they had discovered the one pure model. The first section of this book examines influential individuals such as J. N. Darby and George Müller, while the second […]
Bible and Theology in the Brethren
The papers collected in this book of essays are an introduction to some of the ways in which Bible and theology have been understood and used within the Brethren movement. The heart of the book is a series of chapters on individuals such as S. P. Tregelles, George Müller, William Kelly, F. F. Bruce, and […]
Culture, Spirituality, and the Brethren
‘It is impossible to understand the patterns of theological and ecclesiastical change without attention to the cultural context’, writes Professor David Bebbington in this book. The Brethren movement has often been associated with a hostile attitude to culture, but the chapters in this book also show that statements about the relationship of the movement to […]