The rise to prominence of an active laity is one of the most remarkable yet least-discussed aspects of the modern Church. Despite post-Reformation Protestantism's insistence on each person's direct interior access to God, such has been the preoccupation with clerical leadership that only one or two episodes of lay participation are widely known.

The rise to prominence of an active laity is one of the most remarkable yet least-discussed aspects of the modern Church. Despite post-Reformation Protestantism's insistence on each person's direct interior access to God, such has been the preoccupation with clerical leadership that only one or two episodes of lay participation are widely known.

This book examines a neglected aspect of English social history - the operation of itinerant preachers during the period of political and social ferment at the turn of the nineteenth century. It investigates the nature of their popular brand of Christianity and considers their impact upon existing churches: both the threat apparently posed to the established Church of England and the consequences of their activity for the smaller Protestant bodies from which they arose. The particular strength of the book lies in the extensive use it makes of previously untapped local archives drawn from many...