Bebbington was born in Nottingham, England, on 25 July 1949 and was raised in Sherwood, a northern suburb of Nottingham. An undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge (1968–1971), Bebbington began his doctoral studies there (1971–1973) before becoming a research fellow of Fitzwilliam College (1973–1976). Since 1976 he has taught at the University of Stirling, where since 1999 he has been Professor of History.[2]
Bebbington is widely known for his definition of evangelicalism, referred to as the Bebbington quadrilateral, which was first provided in his 1989 classic study Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s.[4] Bebbington identifies four main qualities which are to be used in defining evangelical convictions and attitudes:[5][6]
Biblicism: a particular regard for the Bible (e.g. all essential spiritual truth is to be found in its pages)
Crucicentrism: a focus on the atoning work of Christ on the cross
Conversionism: the belief that human beings need to be converted
Activism: the belief that the gospel needs to be expressed in effort
Bebbington (along with Mark Noll and others) has exerted a large amount of effort in placing evangelicalism on the world map of religious history. Through their efforts they have made it more difficult for scholars to ignore the influence of evangelicals in the world since the movement’s inception in the eighteenth century.[7][8]
Works
Thesis
Bebbington, David W. (1975). The Nonconformist Conscience: A Study of the Political Attitudes and Activities of Evangelical Nonconformists, 1886–1902 (PhD thesis). Cambridge: Cambridge University.[9]
Books
Bebbington, David W. (1979). Patterns in History: A Christian View.
——— (1982). The Nonconformist Conscience: Chapel and Politics, 1870-1914.
^Noll, Mark A. (2003). The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. p. 19.
^Stewart, Kenneth J. (April 2005). "Did evangelicalism predate the eighteenth century? An examination of David Bebbington's thesis". Evangelical Quarterly. 77 (2): 135–153.
^Gribben, Crawford; Haykin, Michael; Stewart, Kenneth J., eds. (2009). Continuities in Evangelical History: Interactions with David Bebbington. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press.
