The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)

This is the first volume of the definitive 19th-century biography of George Whitefield, the 18th-century evangelist whose fiery preaching helped ignite the Great Awakening and reshape religious life across Britain and colonial America. Tyerman chronicles Whitefield's origin story: a difficult childhood in Gloucester, a wild and restless youth plagued by guilt and spiritual anxiety, his struggles at Pembroke College Oxford, and his gradual transformation from a sin-haunted young man into one of the most electrifying preachers the English-speaking world had ever seen. The biography captures Whitefield's pivotal encounters with the Oxford Methodists, his torment over questions of personal salvation, and the first stirrings of the extraordinary oratorical gift that would later draw tens of thousands to hear him preach in open fields. Volume one lays the foundation for understanding how a troubled boy from modest circumstances became a religious revolutionary who crossed the Atlantic repeatedly and helped birth a new kind of evangelical Christianity. For readers interested in the real human drama behind the Great Awakening, or in the formation of a religious genius, this is essential 19th-century biography at its most engaging.