ABSTRACT DOMESTIC PIETY IN THE MINISTRY OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES Jeffery Steven Wright, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2013 Chair: Dr. Timothy Paul Jones Chapter 1 introduces John Angell James as a person worthy of recognition and research. James's godly character, pastoral leadership and worldwide influence, unheard of to most except the astute historian, presents the foundation for the significance of the study. Additionally, a definition of terms is given in order to help the reader contextualize James's rhetoric. Chapter 2 gives an introduction into the childhood and ministry call of John Angell James. Understanding the historical background in which James formulated his conviction toward domestic piety is paramount. Thorough consideration is given in this chapter to major societal movements and historical issues that made the world in which James lived. Chapter 3 examines James's ministry at Carrs Lane, his personal suffering, his passion for writing and work at shaping congregationalism. James was not only being challenged and shaped by external world events, but every day he was influenced by his church ministry and his times of great suffering. It was not long before his passion for the family and its immortal purpose would become the focal point of many of his writings. Chapter 4 examines James's exhortations regarding domestic piety through his writings and sermons. James had much to say throughout his life directed to fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. This chapter also demonstrates through James's preaching and writings how his familial focus developed a thorough understanding and ministry practice for parents. Chapter 5 carefully analyzes James's integration of domestic piety and evangelism. James unapologetically admonished domestic piety and his ministry bore the fruit of this emphasis. Chapter 6 offers practical implications that will aid pastors and church leaders in their local church ministries. James's life and ministry in many ways serves as an exemplary model for pastors to follow. There are principles that James embraced that are transferrable to today's pastors who find themselves in similar situations.

William Jay (1769-1853) was an Independent minister of the Argyle Chapel in Bath for sixty-two years. His career bridged the time between the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century and the formal Congregational denominationalism of the nineteenth century. Jay’s autobiography is used among historians for its first-hand accounts of other notable evangelical figures such as William Wilberforce (1759-1833), Hannah More (1745-1833) and John Newton (1725-1807). Too often his own influence has been overlooked, but at the time he was regarded as one of the foremost Dissenting preachers of his era. His ministry within a fashionable spa city increased the respectability of evangelical religion among the growing middle classes in Bath. This thesis examines the evangelicalism of William Jay in the context of his times. The scope of Jay’s life and popularity will be examined in six chapters. Following the introduction, chapter two will examine his direct impact through the Argyle Chapel upon Bath. Chapter three will review the early life of William Jay that was much neglected by his biographers. It will demonstrate the formation of his evangelicalism first introduced to him by Joanna Turner (1732-1784) and instilled in his training by Cornelius Winter (1742-1807). The social composition of the Argyle Chapel will be evaluated in the fourth chapter. Those that Jay attracted to the chapel not only promoted his cause to advance the gospel, but also increased the prestige of the minister and his place of worship. In chapter five, Jay’s preaching, which attracted celebrity and commoner alike, will be analyzed for form, style, content, delivery and the receptivity of his audience. Likewise, the spirituality of the man, which will be reviewed in chapter six, induced similar qualities to stimulate evangelical religion. Finally, the polity and ecclesiology of William Jay will be examined in the seventh chapter. The Argyle Chapel was under strong pastoral guidance for the vast majority of the minister’s service until Jay lost that influence shortly before his retirement in 1852. The biography will conclude with an appraisal of R.W. Dale’s (1829-1895) categorization of Jay and his chapel as representative of older evangelical religion and criticism of the early participants of the revival found in Dale’s sermon The Old Evangelicalism and the New (1889). William Jay promoted a religious perspective that exhorted the individual to dwell on the self yet sought to do so through a united Christian movement that crossed denominational barriers.