Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals

The Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals contains biographies of more than four hundred prominent evangelicals and evangelical forebears. Each of these figures has significantly influenced the evangelical community: to learn about them is better to understand the history and present nature of that community.
The volume ranges chronologically from the morning star of the Reformation, John Wyclif, to important shapers of twentieth century evangelicalism such as John Stott. The greatest Reformers, Puritans and Pietists appear alongside the leaders of the eighteenth-century evangelical revival and many of their diverse successors. Ministers and theologians, evangelists and preachers, writers and missionaries, and some from other professions comprise a gallery of notables from the English-speaking evangelical world. Comprehensive and accessible articles combine rigorous historical scholarship with profound human interest.

Here is a welcomed and essential title for understanding the impact that particular evangelical Christians have had. This alphabetically arranged reference work selects 400 men and women who have significantly influenced the theology, pastoral practice, and piety of evangelicals in the English-speaking world. Although 1730 is accepted as the beginning of the evangelical movement by most scholars, the dictionary includes some earlier luminaries such as John Calvin, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, and John Wyclif. It must be noted that editor Larsen, associate professor of theology at Wheaton College, also selected 1935 as the cutoff date for inclusion in the dictionary. Contemporary evangelicals born after this date are not chronicled. The impressive list of contributors numbers about 200, hailing from countries across the globe and consisting of prominent scholars, preachers, and authors.

Each succinctly written article gives sufficient detail, making this much more than a simple who's who. Such evangelists as Oliver Cromwell, Frances Crosby, Billy Graham, Dwight Moody, and William Tyndale are subjects of well-developed essays that are both factual and critical. Most are several pages in length. Entries are signed and conclude with bibliographies encouraging the reader to pursue additional biographical or autobiographical sources. The dictionary has three indexes--names, subjects, and articles.

Comprehensive, balanced, and fairly priced, this title is recommended for academic and public libraries with strong theology collections. RBB
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