Religion and Revolution in Early-Industrial England

This book presents and criticizes the thesis of Elie Halvy (1870-1937), a liberal French historian, philosopher and political scientist. Developed before World War I, his thesis on early industrial England is still influential today. In his extensive studies of England in the 18th and 19th centuries, Halvy asked why the English were spared the frequent revolutions which his countrymen experienced during the same period. He found his answer in the restraining and spreading influences of Evangelicalism which Methodists shared with some low-church Anglicans and some Nonconformists. This study includes excerpts from the works of Halvy and many of his most distinguished British and North American critics, as well as extensive notes explaining specialized terms and historical references, a selected bibliography, and an introductory essay by the editor, reviewing the Halvy thesis and criticisms of it. Contents: The Halvy ThesisPresented and Criticized; Met and Evangelicalism in John Wesley's Life-Time; Methodism and Evangelicalism After Wesley's Death; Methodism and Liberal Historians; Methodism and Marxist Historians; and The Halvy Thesis Re-Examined.