George Ella

James Hervey (1714-1758) was an important Anglican clergyman and writer, at the vanguard of the early First Great Awakening. He has lapsed into obscurity. This biography and assessment seeks to restore something of Hervey's prominence in the minds of more contemporary believers. -- I found the author's style to be a bit dry in places, yet always informative. Especially interesting was the description of the controversies Hervey found himself in with John Wesley over elements of Calvinist theology. (Ella is excellent at defending Hervey from the charge of antinomianism leveled at him by many of his contemporaries.) There was perhaps a bit more analysis of Hervey's writings than I found necessary, but this promoted the author's ends. I appreciated the extensive quotations, however, especially of Hervey's letters, which are warmly pastoral in tone. (I didn't see much, if any, of the "bombastic" aspects of his writing mentioned by Wikipedia.) A valuable book about a man well worth remembering -- and emulating.… (meer)