J.C.Ryle - Episcopal evangelist a study in late Victorian evangelicalism

Abstract

This thesis identifies, describes and assesses the leading features of Evangelicalism as exhibited in the writings and episcopate of John Charles Ryle, first Bishop of Liverpool, 1880-1900. Chapter One attempts a synthesis of his theology through his extant sermons. Chapter Two describes his understanding of the dangers facing the Church of England oh account of the Disestablishment of the Irish Church and the presence of 'Romanism' within the Church. Chapter Three outlines Ryle's strategy of evangelism in the city of Liverpool, while Chapter Four identifies his involvement in contemporary social issues. Chapters Five and Six look at ways in which this mission activity was hindered and obstructed by other clergy, by other diocesan activity, by financial constraints and by the problem of Ritualism, especially the prosecution of James Bell Cox. As a result of this study it is possible to identify changes in both Evangelical theology and practice in the last decades of the nineteenth century.