How freely can salvation be offered to people? How do Law and Grace find balance? What influence does federal theology have on the overall theological enterprise? How does a confessional church interact with both the civil government and other religious communions? These are the questions roiling the twenty-first-century church; these were the questions threatening to splinter the Scottish church in the early eighteenth century. In those earlier days of mounting theological confrontation withinthe Scottish church, Ebenezer Erskine - a parish minister renowned for his evangelistic zeal - had a major role to play. Through this examination of the theology and ministry of Erskine, one therefore gains not only a deeper understanding of a man critically important within Presbyterian history, but also insight into the pressing theological disputes of the day. By analysing Erskine's contributions to ongoing theological discussion, greater clarity is gained on the development of federal theology; on the root causes of the Marrow controversy; and on the challenges involved as increasing religious diversity penetrated lands once dominated by national churches. In these areas and more, Erskine serves both to illuminate an obscure era and torefine modern understandings of still controversial theological issues.

When approaching the most public disagreement over predestination in the eighteenth century, the ‘Free Grace’ controversy between John Wesley and George Whitefield, the tendency can be to simply review the event as a row over the same old issues. This assumption pervades much of the scholarly literature that deals with early Methodism. Moreover, much of that same literature addresses the dispute from John Wesley’s vantage point, often harbouring a bias towards his Evangelical Arminianism. Yet the question must be asked: was there more to the ‘Free Grace’ controversy than a simple rehashing of old arguments? This book answers this complex question by setting out the definitive account of the ‘Free Grace’ controversy in first decade of the Evangelical Revival (1739-49). Centred around the key players in the fracas, John Wesley and George Whitefield, it is a close analysis of the way in which the doctrine of predestination was instrumental in differentiating the early Methodist societies from one another. It recounts the controversy through the lens of doctrinal analysis and from two distinct perspectives: the propositional content of a given doctrine and how that doctrine exerts formative pressure upon the assenting individual(s). What emerges from this study is a clearer picture of the formative years of early Methodism and the vital role that doctrinal pronouncement played in giving a shape to early Methodist identity. It will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of Methodism, Evangelicalism, Theology and Church History.

Includes index.

Introduction: Revival Poetry -- Chapter One: "The Sound in Faith": The Calvinist Couplet and the Poetics of Espousal -- Chapter Two: "A Lady in New England": Forms of the Poet-Minister -- Chapter Three: Evangelical Harmony and the Discord of Taste -- Chapter Four: The Ethiop's Verse: The Limits of Poetic Capacity and Espousal Piety -- Chapter Five: A Revivalist Ars Poetica for an Itinerant Coterie: Evangelical Wit, Punctiliar Revision, and Poetic AddressConclusion: Conversions of Poetic History -- Appendix A: Revival Poets and Poetry -- Appendix B: Selected Verse