James Brainerd Taylor in "World" magazine

In the January 17, 2009 (vol. 24, no. 1), issue of the national and biweekly World magazine--and under "Title tell-alls" in the "The Buzz: Books" section (page 20)--editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky (B.A., Yale; Ph.D., Univ. of Michigan) writes,

"Biographies tend to have clear titles: You can guess from I. Francis Kyle III's An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2008) that Taylor doesn't even have a Wikipedia article--but he should."

You can view the online page here. NOTE: A Wikipedia article on James Brainerd Taylor will hopefully appear soon. It is in the process.

World is the Christian equivalent to Newsweek or Time newsmagazines. It currenty has about 120,000 subscribers, plus online readers. It is a member of the Associated Press news service. Founded by Joel Belz in 1986, World's mission is "To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God." The newsmagazine's title is based on Psalm 24:1 (ESV): "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein." World has an excellent and highly recommended website and blog.

The effort at preserving and reintroducing--via in print, online, and word-of-mouth--the early 19th-century Princeton University and Yale Seminary student-evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) and, more importantly, his 5-pillared Uncommon Christianity, to the early 21st-century global church, seminary and university continues. Taylor defined an "uncommon Christian" as an "eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christian.

Christmas Day with James Brainerd Taylor

An excerpt from James Brainerd Taylor's diary on Christmas Day, December 25, 1822. Written while Taylor was a 21-year-old student at the still-existent Lawrencevillle School (5 miles southwest of Princeton, N.J.). Taken from the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor (NY: American Tract Society, 1833), pages 177-78.

"During the day my mind was solemn; and on my way home [from meditating near his favorite tree], as I mused, the fire burned. In the highway Jesus was exceedingly precious. It is God--the triune, the holy God, that captivates my heart--and to be conformed to the image of his dear Son is my supreme desire. Lord, make me more holy!

"This has been a good Christmas Day to me. The birth of the Savior has occurred to my mind, in all its circumstances, with pleasing reflections. But now he reigns on high, the Judge of all. What a mysterious, yet consistent whole! And all to make his people blessed forever."

James Brainerd Taylor memoirs available online . . . FREE viewing, download and searching

Just a reminder that both the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor (1833) and A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838) are available online. Both books--which are in the public domain (all pre-1923 books)--are fully searchable and can be viewed and downloaded for free via Google Book Search. Click here for the online Memoir and here for A New Tribute.

Both books were digitalized by Google from copies in the Harvard University Library. The 441-page second edition Memoir was digitalized on February 22, 2008 (Google erroneously states this is the 330-page first edition). The 440-page A New Tribute was digitalized on May 9, 2007. Southern Presbyterian pastors John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice compiled the Memoir, and Fitch W. Taylor, a younger brother of James, compiled A New Tribute.

This is perfect timing as the first books on Taylor since 1833 and 1838 were released in January and June 2008 (University Press of America): An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening and the edited anthology Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor. See Uncommon Christian Ministries' timeline on Taylor for other recent activity.

Relatedly, Harvard University Library's copy of the Sketches of The Religious Experience and Labors of A Layman: With An Appendix by Jeremiah Humphre Taylor was digitalized by Google on December 11, 2007. Written in 1860 by one of James Brainerd Taylor's two older brothers, the 171-page autobiographical account contains information about James's childhood in Middle Haddam, Connecticut, his leadership involvement with an African-American Sunday school in New York City, and his evangelistic efforts in various spiritual revivals.

Also, a copy of volume one and volume two of The Flagship; Or, A Voyage Round The World, and Visits to Various Foreign Countries, in the United States Frigate "Columbia"... by Fitch W. Taylor was digitalized by Google on May 3, 2007. The 1840, 1st edition volumes by James's U.S. Navy Chaplain brother are an eyewitness account of the first U.S. Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe. For the digitalization, Google used copies from the New York Public Library.

For more information on the history and current activity of Google Book Search (est. 2004), see here (wikipedia entry) and here (from Google). FYI: Google just signed a ground breaking legal agreement with U.S. authors and publishers, thus allowing Google Book Search to add even more books to their already 7,000,000-plus online books.

For more online resources on James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), see here.

Evangelical Theological Society meeting, Providence, R.I. (and Connecticut churches)

For those in the New England area, I will be presenting a paper/lecture on James Brainerd Taylor at the 60th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, R.I., on Thursday, November 20, 2008. Under the category of "Historical Theology," the talk will be held in Room 555A at the Rhode Island Convention Center, 3:40 to 4:20 p.m. The talk is titled "James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening: Why He Is Needed Today."

The meeting itself is Wednesday to Friday, November 19-21. The plenary sessions are on the theme of "Text and Canon." In addition, about 400 elective papers/lectures will be presented. The elective category topics include Biblical Studies, Evangelism/Missions, Issues in Systematic Theology, American Christianity, Pastoral Theology, Old and New Testament Studies, Baptist Studies, and a host of others. Over 2,000 people are expected to attend.

Formed in 1949, the Evangelical Theological Society is "a professional society of Biblical scholars, teachers, pastors and others involved in evangelical scholarship in order to serve Christ and His Church." Its purpose is "to foster conservative Biblical scholarship by providing a medium for the oral exchange and written expression of thought and research in the general field of the theological disciplines as centered in the Scriptures." ETS publishes a quarterly journal called JETS. (JETS is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. See Pastor-Author John Piper's June 18, 2008, article "2 Birthdays and Biblical Inerrancy.") The society currently has over 4,500 members, with Old Testament scholar Dr. C. Hassell Bullock of Wheaton College (Ill.) serving as 2008 president.

ETS is one of six societies or associations I am a member of. Click here to view my other memberships.

FYI: While visiting family in Connecticut, and on the lone Sunday (Nov. 16) I'm in New England, I plan to worship at Trinity Baptist Church near Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Author and friend Josh Moody (B.A., Ph.D., Cambridge University) is senior pastor of Trinity (1999- ), and creator of the online GodCenteredLife.org. He is 1 of 22 international endorsers of An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, Jan. 2008). A highly recommended church to attend if in the New Haven area. NOTE: It was just announced that Pastor Josh has accepted the position of Senior Pastor at the historic Wheaton College Church (est. 1861) in Illinois. He succeeds long-time (1979-2006) College Church pastor-author Dr. R. Kent Hughes, and begins the new position January 1, 2009.

Also, on November 17, I plan to meet with Mark E. Given (M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Middle Haddam, Conn. Christ Church (est. 1785) was the childhood/home church (birth to age 15, 1801-1816) of James Brainerd Taylor. One of the 8 stained glass windows in the church is dedicated to Col. Jeremiah Taylor, James's father. Through James's instrumentality, it was during the spring 1822 revival that James's parents and some siblings were converted to Christ. Rev. Given (M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is 1 of 17 international endorsers of Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (University Press of America, 2008).

Seattle Times book announcements

Both An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening -and- Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor were announced by book review editor Michael Upchurch in the "New books by Washington authors, or of local interest" section of the October 30, 2008, edition of The Seattle Times. Click here for the online version. With a weekly readership of over 1.5 million (print and online), The Seattle Times is one of two major newspapers the University Press of America books were submitted to, the other being The Hartford Courant in Connecticut (the birthplace of J. B. Taylor).

"Uncommon" press releases sent to over 1,200 media outlets

A press release entitled "New Biographies on Forgotten 'Uncommon Christian' Evangelist James Brainerd Taylor" was sent to over 1,200 media outlets--secular and Christian radio, TV and print--by Religion Press Release Services, a division of the Religion News Service. Based in Washington, D.C., RNS is "the only secular news and photo service devoted to unbiased coverage of religion and ethics--exclusively."

Click here to read a similarly worded but slightly shorter (400-word) national press release sent by the Christian News Wire service. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Christian News Wire is "the most used and most recognized distributor of religious content press releases in the nation since 1989." Every press release sent by Christian News Wire goes to major media outlets nationwide, including all of the top daily newspapers; wire service bureaus; broadcast network bureaus; network affiliates, news-talk radio stations and weekly news magazines. Also, every press release transmitted is made available to millions of online users worldwide.

Library Purchases, Book #2 (Of Intense Brightness)

Released in June 2008 from University Press of America, some libraries that have purchased Book #2--Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor--include the university libraries at Baylor, Chicago, Colorado (Boulder), Drew, Fordham, Georgetown, Georgia, Haverford, Indiana (IUPUI), North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Pennsylvania (UPenn), Texas Christian (TCU), Virginia Tech, and also Colby College, Duke University Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Lancaster Bible College, Princeton Theological Seminary, St. Paul School of Theology (Kansas City, Mo.), Trinity International University/Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and University of Toronto (Canada) and the Bavarian State Library (est. 1558, Munich, Germany). View all libraries at WorldCat.org, "the world's largest network of library content and services." (Relatedly, click here for a list of libraries that have purchased Book #1 so far.)

On another note . . . Book #1--An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, Jan. 2008)--had an entry in the May 2008 edition of Reference & Research Book News: The Bibliography of New Scholarly Books (Vol. 23, No. 2, page 35). Read here a digitalized version of the entry. Reference & Research Book News "focuses on reference and scholarly works in the social sciences and the humanities. Each quarterly issue carries over 3,000 titles (from several hundred publishers), arranged by subject (according to the Library of Congress classification scheme)." RRBN is an affiliate of Book News, Inc. (est. 1976), a company that "prepares concise, descriptive reviews of new books in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities—for librarians and other buyers of serious books."