There are two somewhat mistaken ideas which are common among Methodists, and it is good to find that Nigel Scotland's biography of George Whitefield refutes them both. The first is that the eighteenth-century Evangelical revival, and in particular the phenomenon of Methodism, was solely the province of John and Charles Wesley. It was not, and Nigel Scotland shows that Whitefield deserves an equal place with the Wesley brothers – if anything, it was Whitefield who really initiated the Methodist revival. The second misconception is that the Wesleys and Whitefield became lifelong bitter antagonists. This is a huge distortion of the truth, and the author shows quite clearly how, despite their theological differences, the Wesleys and Whitefield remained close friends until the latter's death in 1770. In fact, John Wesley preached at Whitefield's memorial service in 1770, and spoke with great affection of his old comrade.

Nigel Scotland's preface consists of a brief but very useful critique of earlier biographies of Whitefield. The next eight chapters follow a chronological pattern and take us from his rebellious youthful years, through his conversion in 1735 and subsequent years in Oxford (where he became close to the Wesleys) to his ministry as an extraordinarily gifted evangelist. His energy and work-output were astonishing – travelling thousands of miles on horseback, visiting America (where he died, burned out, from an asthma attack at the age of fifty-six) on no fewer than thirteen occasions, and preaching to huge congregations throughout the country, mostly in the open-air. In his eminently readable narrative, Scotland shows that Whitefield was no mere demagogue, and though there are stories of people collapsing in tears during his sermons, and on one occasion even being reduced to convulsions, most such accounts are exaggerated. The author shows that criticisms of him as a ‘hit and run’ preacher are unfair, and though his greatest successes came probably in Scotland and South Wales, we are left in no doubt that Whitefield was as instrumental as the Wesleys in transforming Methodism from being ‘a small pietistic sect within the Church of England known as the Holy Club’ into an international movement.

Perhaps the last five chapters of this biography are the most interesting, as they are thematic in character. The author comments first on Whitefield's preaching, saying that his ‘minimalist ecclesiology and doctrine’ were ‘ideally suited to the raw conditions of the frontier and the new colonial settlements’ – something that the Wesley brothers learned to their cost when in Georgia. The chapter on ‘The social Gospeller’ contains much critical analysis. The author deals briefly with Whitefield's ‘self-deprecating posturing to the nobility’, but writes at length about Whitefield's acceptance of slavery as an institution. Whitefield denounced cruelty to slaves in no uncertain terms, but was sympathetic to the Georgian colonists who protested against Oglethorpe's outlawing of slavery in Georgia, and himself bought a large plantation in South Carolina, where slave-ownership was legal. The third chapter in this group covers Whitefield's theology and the inevitable problems caused by his belief in predestination and the embracing of Calvinist doctrines – since it clashed with the Arminianism of John and Charles Wesley. The final chapter, entitled ‘A fervent spirituality’, again gives us a balanced perspective, and the author is not afraid to reveal Whitefield's weaknesses and self-contradictions. Incidentally, Whitefield was no more successful in his relationships with women than was John Wesley, and although he was probably more happily married, regarded his wife Elizabeth as essentially a supporter of his work as an evangelist.

Nigel Scotland has written a carefully researched, critically balanced biography of ‘one of the most remarkable, able and energetic preachers the world has seen’, who made a significant impact on religious and social life in both this country and America. This book deserves to be regarded as the standard work on Whitefield for many years to come.