Crawford Gribben is Professor of History at Queen's University Belfast. He writes about the religious history of Britain, Ireland, and North America, focusing on the literary cultures of puritanism and evangelicalism, with special interests in millennial and apocalyptic thought.
J.N. Darby and the Roots of Dispensationalism is the definitive work on Darby's theology of salvation, the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Among the book's many achievements is the demonstration that Darby's eschatological speculations, which have often been treated in isolation, were deeply embedded in his views of salvation, the church, and the Holy Spirit-and that later 'dispensationalists' rarely or never followed Darby on those matters. No one has even come close to the depth and insight of this book on how John Nelson Darby constructed his own theology. * Mark Noll, Author of America's Book: The Rise and Decline of America's Bible Civilization, 1794-1911 * John Nelson Darby is both vastly influential and vastly under-recognized. One of the most voluble of Victorian doctrinal writers, he is the voice behind much of radical evangelicalism in the United States and, indeed, worldwide. The question long has been: did Darby, who had myriad doctrines, actually have a theology? Crawford Gribben answers that question in the affirmative with a coherent, comprehensive, and sympathetic exposition of Darby's underlying systematic theology. This a fine, often heroic, book. * Donald H. Akenson, A.C. Hamilton Distinguished University Professor & Douglas Professor of Canadian and Colonial History, Queen's University *