|
|
TABLE OF CONTENTSScope and Contents of the Collection Incoming Correspondence, 1741-1769 |
Collection on George WhitefieldA Guide to the Collection
Biographical NoteGeorge Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England on December 16, 1714, the youngest son of innkeepers Thomas and Elizabeth Edwards Whitefield. He studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he met Charles Wesley and joined the Oxford Holy Club. An Anglican deeply influenced by Puritan writings, Moravian Pietism, and his own spiritual re-birth experience, Whitefield was ordained a deacon in June of 1736. Rev. Whitefield ministered in England in 1737 and in the British North American colony of Georgia in 1738. After returning to England, he was ordained a priest in January of 1739 under the patronage of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. In response to finding many Church of England pulpits closed to him, Whitefield adopted field preaching as a way of conveying the message of Christianity to the public. Over the next three decades his dramatic style of preaching, evangelical new-birth message, and constant public appearances made Whitefield one of the most popular preachers in Great Britain and British North America during the First Great Awakening. He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 30, 1770 while on a preaching tour. Though they were colleagues in ministry early on, Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley parted ways over theological differences. The Wesleys championed Arminian Methodism while Whitefield supported the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Conference, Lady Huntingdon’s (Calvinistic Methodist) Connexion, and the cause of mass evangelism. Sources: Henry, Stuart Clark. George Whitefield: Wayfaring Witness. New York: Abingdon Press, 1957. Rack, H. “Whitfield, George.” Encyclopedia of World Methodism. Nashville: Methodist Publishing House, 1974. Rogal, Samuel J. A Biographical Dictionary of 18th Century Methodism Vol IX, W. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe documents authored by, sent to, or signed by George Whitefield in this collection record evidence of the personal life and ministerial career of a leading eighteenth-century English missionary and field-preaching evangelist. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsAccess to Collection:The collection is open for research use. Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection. Publication Rights:Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the Bridwell Library. Copyright Statement:It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents Related Material
Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred Citation[Identification of item], Collection on George Whitefield, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Acquisition InformationAcquired, 1957-ongoing. The core of this collection was a gift of Bishop Frederick DeLand Leete as part of the Methodist Historical Library. Processing InformationProcessed by Timothy S. G. Binkley, 2013. Finding aid written byTimothy S. G. Binkley, 2013. Encoded byAda Negraru, 2013 Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the CollectionDigital images of all the items in this collection are available for viewing at http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/all/bridwell/whitefield/index.asp. Folder titles in this finding aid are hyperlinked directly to metadata-rich digital images of individual documents.
Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||