THE DIVINE DRAMATIST BOOK REVIEW

THE DIVINE DRAMATIST BOOK REVIEW

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The Divine Dramatist Book Review
Whereas modern historiography has moved away the Great Men, nationalistic, and political concern with the 19th Century and moved towards social history, biography should preserve its focus on the person. Harry Stout’s book, however, represents the effect that prosopography has on biography. Whereas Whitefield represents the central stage in the book, he focuses on others who influenced the rise of evangelicalism such as Wesley, Edwards, Sarah Crosby, and Franklin. These influenced evangelicalism through innovations in newspaper writing and printing . He describes these individuals in light of their association with Whitefield. In some sense, this book is a biography of a group of individuals with Whitefield as the perfect example. In this book, the author reveals how Whitefield and the modern evangelicalism rise existed in a symbiotic association. Therefore, the focus of this essay is to explore the association from both sides and show how the author makes his case through analysis and criticism of his work.
One needs to explore the forces that shaped Whitefield, the first of these being the family. Whitefield’s father died when he was a little boy, and the mother left to raise seven children. The mother was influential in directing Whitefield to the ministry as she wished for the family to regain its social position. The decline in social decline built some form of inferiority that was bound to Whitefield’s sense of persecution and his personal destiny. Drama was another powerful force that shaped Whitefield’s life. He was talented in this field. This talent and skill was joined with the rise of Methodism as another powerful force that created a new way of preaching. The development of extemporaneous way of preaching was a direct consequence the dramatic tendencies and abilities of Whitefield. This is what gave him a chance to put his skills in drama into practice to offer himself with the legitimacy and power he yearned to have. Another influential force was the Oxford experience of Whitefield. This was essential not only because of the influence of Methodism, but also because of his position there. Going to Oxford as a servitor influenced him in two ways. It assisted in developing people skills in which he could ingratiate himself to others. In addition, he felt isolated from the establishment of Oxford. This made him devote himself to individual piety .
If family, theater, and school had a significant impact in determining who George Whitefield would become, one can also understand how who Whitefield became assisted him in developing the revivals and eighteenth century new religious history. One of the most essential means that Whitefield and the changing moments fed on each other was in the marketing field. During the mid of the 18th Century England and American were in the consumer revolution mist. This was possible through the use of his journal. He could establish a character for public consumption and merge his public life with his private life in such a way as to cause the private person to become lost. In the real sense, he became an entrepreneur with him being the product himself. The use of newspapers was another means that Whitefield used in promoting himself by use of controversy . By doing this, he wanted to reach larger audiences and his sense of persecution is highly an attempt towards self-promotion. Taking over ‘The Weekly History’ magazine is another way exhibited by the author that Whitefield used to promote and market himself.
The author shows the audience on the fundamentals to a successful business that includes capital, marketing, and product. Stout’s work is an exceedingly enlightening account of the rise of modern evangelism. However, it has a number of weaknesses in its historiography. Basically, the work is the author’s effort to psychoanalyze George Whitefield that result in some problems. Attempting to comprehend a person’s mind and their thoughts is almost impossible for historians. Therefore, this work appears to be filled with unsupportable speculation. The language used by the author tends to bring out the idea that the author knows Whitefield than the character himself. By arguing that Whitefield wanted to conquer his effeminate image, these are only speculations. The author wishes to preserve the character’s sincerity, integrity, and piety whereas he still doubts the veracity of his accounts . In order to reconcile this, he is forced to reflect Whitefield as both self-deceived and sincere. The author also does not reveal the character’s hidden motives, and; therefore, his language appears to be suggestive. This is seen especially when Stout writes of Whitefield’s reaction to the death of his mother. The use of perhaps by the author also indicates his subjective language. His facts are only speculations.
Whitefield has a prime influence in the rise of evangelicalism. However, it is also essential to recognize that he was also a result of its development. The author does an exemplary job in showing this. He does this through using Whitefield character a dramatist tapped into the influences of the new consumer revolution in order to create a sense of culmination and international significance to the local task of evangelicalism. The result of the culmination was a modern and new religious history grounded on the individual experience of the believer that became the basis for a shared revival theology.

A List of References
Stout, Harry S. 1991. The divine dramatist: George Whitefield and the rise of modern Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans.