Andrew Atherstone & John Maiden 
Evangelicalism and the Church of England in the Twentieth Century 
Reform, Resistance and Renewal

An important contribution to the understanding of twentieth-century Anglicanism and evangelicalism


This volume makes a considerable contribution to the understanding of twentieth-century Anglicanism and evangelicalism. It includes an expansive introduction which both engages with recent scholarship and challenges existing narratives. The book locates the diverse Anglican evangelical movement in the broader fields of the history of English Christianity and evangelical globalisation.

Contributors argue that evangelicals often engaged constructively with the wider Church of England, long before the 1967 Keele Congress, and displayed a greater internal party unity than has previously been supposed. Other significant themes include the rise of various ‘neo-evangelicalisms’, charismaticism, lay leadership, changing conceptions of national identity, and the importance of generational shifts. The volume also provides an analysis of major organisations, conferences and networks, including the Keswick Convention, Islington Conference and Nationwide Festival of Light.


ANDREW ATHERSTONE is tutor in history and doctrine, and Latimer research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. JOHN MAIDEN is lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at the Open University. He is author of
National Religion and the Prayer Book Controversy, 1927-1928 (The Boydell Press, 2009).

Table of Content

Anglican Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: Identities and Contexts – Andrew Atherstone and John Maiden

The Islington Conference – David W Bebbington

The Anglican Evangelical Group Movement – Martin Wellings

The Keswick Convention and Anglican Evangelical Tensions in the Early Twentieth Century – Ian Randall

The Cheltenham and Oxford Conference of Evangelical Churchmen – Andrew Atherstone

Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Relations, 1928-1983 – John Maiden

Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Evangelicals in the Church of England – Peter Webster

Anglican Evangelicals and Anti-Permissiveness: The Nationwide Festival of Light, 1971-1983 – Matthew Grimley

Evangelical Parish Ministry in the Twentieth Century – Mark Smith

Evangelical Resurgence in the Church in Wales in the Mid-Twentieth Century – David Ceri Jones

What Anglican Evangelicals in England Learned from the World, 1945-2000 – Alister Chapman

Appendix 1: The Islington Conference

Appendix 2: The Cheltenham and Oxford Conference of Evangelical Churchmen

About the author

MATTHEW GRIMLEY is associate professor in modern history at the University of Oxford and fellow and tutor at Merton College.