Bruce Hindmarsh, DPhil (Oxon), FRHistS,
DLitt (honoris causa)
James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology
and Professor of the History of Christianity at
Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.
Bruce Hindmarsh, DPhil (Oxon), FRHistS,
DLitt (honoris causa)
James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology and Professor of the History of Christianity at Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.
Bruce Hindmarsh took his D.Phil. degree in theology at Oxford University in 1993. From 1995 to 1997 he was also a research fellow at Christ Church, Oxford. He has since published and spoken widely to international audiences on the history of early British evangelicalism.
His articles have appeared in respected academic journals such as Church History, the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, and the Huntington Library Quarterly.
The recipient of numerous teaching awards and research grants, he has also been a research fellow at the Huntington Library and recipient of the Henry Luce III Theological Fellowship. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a past-president of the American Society of Church History. His book The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World won best History/Biography in the 2019 Christianity Today Book Awards. In 2022, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Crandall University and als0 received the 2022 Research Award from the Dallas Willard Research Center at the Martin Institute for Christianity & Culture.
He teaches the history of Christianity and spiritual theology, and speaks often to lay audiences as well as preaching in his own church and elsewhere. A former staff worker for Youth for Christ and founding director of Camp Cedarwood, he is an active lay member of an Anglican Church in Vancouver. He is married to Carolyn, and they have three adult children.
Bruce is the author of three major academic books:
The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism (Oxford University Press, 2018),
The Evangelical Conversion Narrative (Oxford University Press, 2005),
and John Newton and the English Evangelical Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1996).
“Understanding the varieties of evangelicalism is important for an observer of the contemporary world, and for the student of the eighteenth century. Hindmarsh’s erudite and graceful book will become an indispensable guide for the perplexed.”
— John Coffey, Eighteenth-Century Studies
“A landmark study, not only of evangelical conversion narratives, but also of evangelical conversions themselves. It is the best book ever published by a North American on eighteenth-century evangelical religion.”
— Mark A. Noll, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
“There is no better account of an eighteenth-century Evangelical parish priest than this. Though Hindmarsh chronicles the career of one man, his is in many ways a microcosmic study which touches on many aspects of the Evangelical Revival in its ‘heroic’ early stages. The book is finely nuanced and written with style and clarity.”
— John Walsh, Journal of Theological Studies
Craig Borlase and I wrote a new book for the 250th anniversary of “Amazing Grace,” telling the story behind the song for a general audience. The author of the hymn was John Newton, and I have written about him before. His dramatic life’s story was truly one of amazing grace. This will also be the basis for a feature film in 2024.
Other Books
An edition of Johann Arndt’s classic text, True Christianity, from John Wesley’s version.
An edition of John Newton’s autobiography and his three letters on growth in grace.
A small book co-authored with Jim Houston
on Christian higher education
Current Project:
The Diaries and Autobiographical Accounts
of George Whitefield (Oxford University Press)
A Critical Edition of George Whitefield’s Manuscript Diaries (1735–36), together with his Short Account (1740) and Further Account (1746)
A few pieces from around the web
