The Mixed Legacy of a Leading Evangelical Family |
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During much of the 19th century, America’s evangelical Christians were optimistic—often to a fault—about making their nation more righteous. Few figures embodied this reformist passion quite like Lyman Beecher, a Presbyterian minister, seminary head, and leading figure in the Second Great Awakening. |
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Lyman had children who matched and occasionally exceeded his renown, including the minister Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, most famously the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In his book The Beechers: America’s Most Influential Family, pastor and church history professor Obbie Tyler Todd looks at the long shadow cast by the clan’s Calvinist patriarch and the apples that sometimes fell theologically far from the tree. |
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In his review for CT, historian Heath Carter credits Todd with capturing the Beechers’ mixed legacy as evangelical torchbearers. |
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“The saga of this storied 19th-century evangelical family is, in Todd’s expert telling, not a simplistic morality play,” writes Carter. “In these pages, the Beechers appear as the complex, multidimensional persons they in fact were. They embodied a generous vision of orthodoxy even as they clung to various forms of prejudice. Their intense investment in familial relationships proved time and again to be at once grounding and crushing. And their myriad efforts to grow the church and better the world—their unremitting ‘Beecherism’—should function as both a source of inspiration and a cautionary tale. |
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“This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the longer history of evangelical Protestantism and its momentous impact during a critical period in the development of a much-younger United States. As the nation now careens toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with pessimism surging on all sides of the lines that divide, The Beechers should spur us to deep reflection on the possibilities and pitfalls of the human impulse to improve. Lyman and his brood would have it no other way.” |
Information and Imagination |
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In the Christian way of understanding reality, truth and beauty are inseparable. Christian doctrines engage our hearts as much as our minds, and we affirm them for reasons that run beyond logical rigor or philosophical profundity. Beauty, for its part, is no free-floating aesthetic abstraction. Its power depends on being rooted in the God who created all beauty, and whose own character and majesty embody it to the fullest. |
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In a recent reflection for CT, our print editorial director Ashley Hales considers two recent books that explore how Christianity forms our minds and our imaginations alike: The Theological Imagination, by University of St. Andrews theologian Judith Wolfe, and Drawn by Beauty: Awe and Wonder in the Christian Life, by North Carolina pastor Matthew Capps. |
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Here’s how she opens her review: |
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“Every few weeks, it seems, we hear statistics about an American epidemic of loneliness, the purposelessness of young men, an increase in anxiety and depression in younger generations, and growing political tribalism. But we haven’t identified reliable pathways through the morass. |
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“Meanwhile, our church cultures are not immune to these larger challenges. Although the number of those leaving the church may be stabilizing, Pew reports the ‘stickiness’ of religion is declining. What can account for a disconnect between the gospel the church proclaims and the lives we often lead? What has captured our imaginations? |
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“It’s possible for Christians to hold broadly similar doctrines while differing dramatically in how those doctrines shape their lives and outlooks. Accordingly, Christian leaders who care about discipleship in 21st-century American evangelical churches should be asking not only what we believe but how. |
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“I’ve come to believe that much of our discipleship gap results not from an informational deficit but from an imaginative one. Although we need deep familiarity with theological truths, we first need to form a more robust Christian imagination so we can incorporate these truths into a coherent way of life. This has less to do with knowing facts, important as they are, than with learning to think, dream, and love more Christianly.” |
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These days it can be easy to forget that, through the heyday of the great awakenings and for a long while after, one hallmark of the evangelical stream of Christianity…
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Every few weeks, it seems, we hear statistics about an American epidemic of loneliness, the purposelessness of young men, an increase in anxiety and depression in younger generations, and growing…
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If you’re looking for family devotionals that bridge your home to the world, check out Compassion International’s free resources today. Ashley Wilhelm could barely contain her excitement. She was finally…
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It's easy to live in a state of panic, anxiety, and fear, from the pinging of our phones to politics and the state of the church. In this issue, we acknowledge panic and point to Christian ways through it. Russell Moore brings us to the place of panic in Caesarea Philippi with Jesus and Peter. Laura M. Fabrycky writes about American inclinations toward hero-making. Mindy Belz reports on the restorative work of Dr. Denis Mukwege for rape victims in Congo. We’re also thrilled to give you a first look at the Global Flourishing Study, a multiyear research project about what makes a flourishing life across the globe. While panic may be profitable or natural, we have a sure and steady anchor for our souls in Jesus. |
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