George Whitefield originally came to the colonies to serve as an Anglican priest in Georgia, but faced with the conspicuous misery …

24 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for these videos. You mentioned that the 4th Gospel was going to be the next book that you tackle. I am looking forward to it!
    Question:
    Are you going to discuss the authorship of the gospel? I have recently been convinced (as others have, as well) that the "internal evidence" points to Lazarus as the author. Any thoughts? Or, are you going to keep us in suspense until you start the study….? 😀

  2. Bruce check up on again the associate reformed Presbyterian Church in the Southeast they came out of the Pennsylvania area very important to a lot that you're talking about in the American Revolutionary War the Charlotte area and also done into South Carolina so you might want to check that out

  3. My plug for Richard Hooker – If asked “Which thinker exerted the
    greatest influence on the American founders?” most Americans educated enough to
    know an answer would likely reply with little hesitation, “John Locke.” If
    asked “Which theologian exerted the greatest influence on the development of
    English Protestantism,” many might hesitate a bit more, but would probably
    answer, “John Calvin.” But there is a strong case to be made that the answer
    for both questions should be the same, although it is a name probably unknown
    even to the vast majority of well-educated Americans—Richard Hooker, himself
    profoundly influenced by Calvin and a profound influence on Locke.
    found on the internet

  4. As a New Zealander that shouldn't know all this I thank you so much for lending your time out to us so generously. You are a living Legion. I know that the first few presidents you could actually walk up to the Whitehouse and the actual president would actually answer the front door and talk to you directly. I doubt this accessibility with you Bruce will last. I really do want to compliment you on your fine work! I feel really bad that I have to say that I'm not a card-carrying Calvinist (or a communist, totally joking). But I sure would have been back in the day! especially as an English puritan!!, Scottish presbyterian, or a liberty-loving founding father (I sure wish I would have been faithful and burnt at the stake for Jesus). I obviously didn't site you directly, but my previous bible group invited someone that had some sort of professor who had a PHD in something (Dr. Pattemore). He was very much all-rounded in Revelation at the start but I could tell he was very amillennialist and referred the dates of Revelation to 90AD. I just had to ask him a probing question, I asked him if there was anything in the bible that gave any evidence of a later date after 70 AD. His response, treat this almost direct quote, Jerusalem isn't even mentioned once in revolution. Then I asked him, what about the whore of Babylon (totally about Jerusalem right?) kind of felt bad even quoting the name of the chapter topic (our pastor was attending the bible group). Anyways he didn't really answer me and dodged the question. My bible study teacher and the professor are really into global warming and are super progressive, I ended up leaving the church. My backup plan, I actually found a charismatic Presbyterian church (they use an electric guitar in the worship music), that I might be giving ago soon! (when our lockdowns are over).

  5. Bruce……I recommend you read "The Lost Soul of American Protestantism" written by D. G. Hart. You are portraying pietism, through revivalism, in a positive light. Pietism, whether on the liberal mainstream left or the evangelical religious right, is opposed to confessional Presbyterianism.

  6. Thanks for another wonderful lecture. You started by talking about Whitefield’s desire to build an orphanage in Georgia. But you did not mention that he actually built one. With his preaching to thousands at a time I’m sure he must have raised plenty of funds to do so.

  7. A fascinating lecture. I shall need to go and read up on the meddling Methodists.

    It's an odd debate, between the Calvinists and the Methodists at this stage of British puritanism. George Whitefield was both, but I gather the difference of opinion between him and John Wesley, on the issue of predestination, brought great strain upon their friendship, as Wesley took it to heart. Evidently Whitefield implored him to renew their friendship, and eventually they did.

    This debate over the meaning of free will, and the power of the lord to know and foretell all our futures, has permeated Christianity since it began as a church.

    It is arguably the basis of Darwin's evolutionary theory, as "natural" evolution is what you have if everything is predetermined. That is to say, if the future is certain, God is also required to abide by its unfolding, and thus the free will of God is just as much a delusion as our own free will. In this way, Charles Darwin, from a family of Methodists who were fighting against the Calvinist doctrine of strict predestination, used the logic of impermeable future events to discard the lord from his philosophy entirely.

    Did the Calvinists give us Darwin, and the subordination of the lord, and our souls, to immutable fate, through their divine certainty regarding the glorious fate of the elect, who were themselves?

  8. I'm not sure George Whitefield's alleged enthusiasm for slavery is necessarily inconsistent with everything else he said. I suspect he had a more realistic–or at least contemporary–grasp of the plight of the South than he is given credit for, which is odd, because he is lauded for everything else he said and did. It seems odd to me, at least. Considering everything else he said, I'm moved to wonder what problem he saw and what realistic solutions he imagined, in keeping with his beliefs in all other realms. WHY did he argue for slavery? Did he have an argument? What was it? We have to be careful about making judgments by rote. And isn't it interesting that slavery in the United States was one of the underlying reasons for the Civil War, when all other (European) countries managed to abolish it without bloodshed? What's up with that? What all was going on?

  9. On the subject of slavery, Exodus says that to make a slave of an unwilling freeman was a capital crime. But it was permitted to buy and sell slaves. The US Constitution enabled and foretold the stopping of the importation of slaves. This, among other things, made slaves more valuable and indirectly improved their treatment. Slavery only made financial sense in the large plantations. Slavery persisted in Virginia mostly because it became a breeding ground for slaves that were sold further South.

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