The position of Protestant Dissenters after the Toleration Act of 1689 is sometimes assumed by historians to have been immediately transformed. That of course was not the case. With hindsight, it is possible to see that the Act was the first in a long series of laws that liberalized the position of those who dissented from the Church of England, but for much of the period covered by this volume the experience of Dissenters was very different. First, it was by no means clear that the Toleration Act would remain on the statute book; until the 1720s and 1730s there was a strong body of Anglican clergy who campaigned for its repeal. The Tory ministry of 1710–1714 came close to such a move. Secondly, many Latitudinarian churchmen (those who wanted “latitude” toward Dissenters to encourage them to return to the Church of England) might have made the Act redundant if they had achieved their aim. In the case of Benjamin Hoadly, he seems to have been remarkably successful in Winchester diocese in bringing some dissenters to conformity. However, across the rest of the country the divisions between Anglicanism and Dissent gradually settled into a hardened state.

This important and impressive volume provides chapters on each of the traditions, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers, and Methodists; the latter is something of an anomaly, since Methodism left the church only at the end of the period covered by this book (which makes the use of George Whitefield on the cover of the book somewhat incongruous, also). And the absence of chapters on Unitarianism and “rational dissent” is also curious, though they receive some coverage in the thematic chapters. There are also essays on Dissent in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and America, as well as thematic chapters on revivals, missionary societies, toleration, abolitionism and social conscience, theology, sermons, hymnody, education, and material and print cultures. In short, like the volumes in Oxford History of Anglicanism, to which the five-volume Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions is a companion series, this is a comprehensive and thorough statement of scholarship on the field. In fact, the eighteenth-century volume in the Oxford History of Anglicanism, Establishment and Empire 1662–1829 (2017) and this collection together provide an outstanding suite of essays on religion in Britain and North America in the long eighteenth century.

A review of such a work can only offer highlights for consideration. One of these is Eryn White's chapter, “Protestant Dissent in Wales,” which provides a perceptive and comprehensive survey of developments in Wales, which is often overlooked. Her essay addresses one of the important issues, the degree to which the long eighteenth century can be divorced from the seventeenth in the field of Dissent. It also looks both at the theological and social impact of the development of Dissent and the issue of the distinctive environment of the Welsh language. Andrew Thompson's essay, “Toleration Dissent and the State in Britain,” drills into some of the more complex issues of the nature of toleration and the political and legal position of Dissenters. Thompson shows very clearly that the eighteenth century is too early in British history to separate politics from religion; they remained the same for most of the period and only became immiscible in the nineteenth century. Consequently, most Dissenters, like most Anglicans, viewed politics through a providential lens, in this case regarding toleration as the work of God. Without being teleological, Thompson shows how the movement for greater rights grew in the period. Grayson Ditchfield's superb essay, “Abolitionism and the Social Conscience,” demonstrates that abolitionism was not an Anglican monopoly and that Dissent brought an international dimension to the calls for the end of slavery and the slave trade. He also shows the ways in which a precursor of the sociopolitical alignment of Dissent with social reform developed in this period. It is a trend often associated with the Victorian era, and Ditchfield's essay is a reminder that the alignment started in the eighteenth century. Francoise Deconinck-Brossard's essay, “Sermons,” draws on the developing field of sermon studies to trace the shape of Dissenting sermons. She suggests, rightly, that preaching was a key to Dissenting identity—as J. R. Watson does with hymnody. But she also explores the ways in which sermons were received and “consumed” by their audiences. They acted as a spur to literacy as well as charging the debates on theological issues with additional energy.

The essays on the material culture of Dissent, which is limited to buildings, and the print culture miss opportunities to discuss more common forms, including ceramics, portraits, textiles, and ephemera. These were some of the most potent ways in which popular adherence to denominations were both formed and sustained and often shaped the specific identities of Dissenting congregations and families.

Despite minor cavils, the collection as a whole is a major achievement and an outstanding contribution to the literature on Dissent in the eighteenth century. It has been superbly edited and represents an important scholarly moment. The volume will be necessary reading for students of religion in the eighteenth century for which the editor and contributors are to be congratulated.