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Laws of the Spiritual Order
Innovation and Reconstruction in the Soteriology of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen
Studies in Evangelical History and Thought
by Don Horrocks
Foreword by Trevor Hart
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
The Evangelical movement has been marked by its union of four emphases: on the Bible, on the cross of Christ, on conversion as the entry to the Christian life and on the responsibility of the believer to be active. The present series is designed to publish scholarly studies of any aspect of this movement in Britain or overseas. Its volumes include social analysis as well as exploration of Evangelical ideas. The books in the series consider aspects of the movement shaped by the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century, when the impetus to mission began to turn the popular Protestantism of the British Isles and North America into a global phenomenon. The series aims to reap some of the rich harvest of academic research about those who, over the centuries, have believed that they had a gospel to tell to the nations.
Series Editors
David Bebbington, Professor of History, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland,UK
John H.Y. Briggs, Senior Research Fellow in Ecclesiastical History and Director of the Centre for Baptist History and Heritage, Regent's Park College, Oxford, UK
Timothy Larsen, McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, USA
Mark A. Noll, McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Ian M. Randall, Senior Research Fellow, International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, Czech Republic
Don Horrocks spent twenty-five years in business in corporate banking and management consultancy. He completed his Ph.D. on which this work is based at London Bible College in 2002. He has headed up the Evangelical Alliance's Policy Commission for four years. He was appointed Public Affairs Manager for the Alliance in September 2001. He has edited books on transsexuality and on GM Crops and Foods for the Evangelical Alliance Policy Commission. A Research Associate at London School of Theology, he is married with three children.
'The name of Thomas Erskine is one of the more significant landmarks on the map of nineteenth-century British theology. Erskine, though, is little read these days, and there has long been a need for an in-depth authoritative treatment of his thought in order to rekindle our interest. Don Horrocks has provided just such a study. Horrocks' focus on Erskine's soteriology opens up distinctive perspectives on a raft of key theological themes from the doctrine of God to the nature of faith and religious experience, and the authoritative sources for theology. In addition, this informative study captures the mood of that early-mid nineteenth-century intellectual milieu which Erskine's thought both embodies and transcended. Unmatched in its analysis and evaluation of Erskine's contribution.'
- Trevor Hart, Professor of Divinity, St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, Scotland
'Don Horrocks is a born researcher who writes with clarity and interest. This book is a splendid contribution to the growing conversations concerning previously neglected theologians. Thomas Erskine's precocity has come of age and I can think of no better a presentation of his context and theology than that offered by Horrocks.'
- Graham McFarlane, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, London School of Theology, UK
'Thomas Erskine is one of the seminal but neglected theologians of nineteenth-century Scotland. In his study Don Horrocks introduces us to Erskine's thought in a thematic way that is at once lucid, scholarly and stimulating. It should be on the bookshelf of every serious student of the period.'
- Nick Needham, Lecturer in Church History, Highland Theological College, Dingwall, Scotland
'Don Horrocks' work provides a searching analysis of this key nineteenth-century theologian. It is likely to be the first recourse on the subject for many years to come.'
- Meic Pearse, Associate Professor of History, Houghton College