Abstract
George Whitefield, famous for his preaching tours throughout the eighteenth-century West, owed much of his renown to “traveling texts.” Early in his ministry, the Anglican clergyman penned spiritual journals, autobiographical works, and an avalanche of letters detailing his ministerial exploits, personal spiritual successes and struggles, and plans for the future. Publishers in England and America eagerly awaited these writings, mailed to them from wherever Whitefield was in the world. During a six-week tour of the New England colonies in America in the fall of 1740, Whitefield used letters, journal entries, and contributed newspaper items to communicate the narrative of his preaching tour to not only his own religious community of revival-oriented, evangelical Protestants but also to the rest of the world. These published writings show Whitefield’s tour as remarkably successful in terms of numbers and notably powerful in terms of God’s presence. Whitefield himself appears in the texts as courageous, favored, and spiritually devoted. This paper examines how Whitefield used his “traveling texts” to share and brand his 1740 preaching journey through the New England colonies.
Presenters
Lisa SmithAssistant Professor of Teaching of English, Humanities and Teacher Education Division, Pepperdine University, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
Preaching, Revival, Self-Writing, Itinerancy, George Whitefield, First Great Awakening, Boston
