Description: Philip Doddridge (1702-51) pastored a sizeable evangelical congregation in Northampton, England, and ran a training academy for Dissenters which prepared men for pastoral ministry. Offering a fresh look at Doddridge's thought, the book provides a criticial examination of the accepted view that Doddridge was influenced in his thinking primarily by Richard Baxter and John Locke. Exploring the influence of other streams of thought, from John Owen and other Puritan writers to Samuel Clarke and Isaac Watts, as well as interaction with contemporaries in Dissent, the book shows Doddridge to be a leader in an evangelical Dissent which was essentially Calvinistic in its theology, adapted to the contours and culture of its times.
Review Quotes: 'Philip Doddridge was the most representative figure of orthodox Dissent in eighteenth-century England. Welcoming the Evangelical Revival, he trained a large number of ministers at his academy in Northampton to transmit the gospel message of the Independent denomination on a firm intellectual foundation. In this book Robert Strivens has written a clear and persuasive analysis of the mind of Doddridge that shows why he was so influential in his century.' David Bebbington, University of Stirling, UK