This work investigates how the emergence of evangelical devotion in the eighteenth century functioned as a distinct response to the onset of modernity. D. Bruce Hindmarsh, a scholar of Christian history, utilizes primary source documents and historical analysis to argue that evangelicalism was not merely a reaction against the Enlightenment, but a complex spiritual framework that engaged with contemporary science, law, and artistic expression. The text examines how early evangelicals navigated the shifting intellectual landscape of the modern world while maintaining a focus on personal conversion and religious experience.

Scholars and historians frequently cite this work as a rigorous, nuanced contribution to the study of religious history and the transition to modernity. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a detailed intellectual context for the development of evangelical identity.