Christian Evidence Society
{{Short description|British Christian organisation}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Missing information|the Society's activities in the 20th century|date=March 2009}}
The Christian Evidence Society is a British Christian apologetics organisation that was founded in 1870. At its financial peak in 1883, it had slightly over 400 paying members, but that it had declined to below 300 by 1897. After 1900, its focus shifted from defending against external attacks to addressing doubts from within Christianity.Dale A. Johnson, "[https://archive.today/20130105224820/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120048278/abstract Popular Apologetics in Late Victorian England: The Work of the Christian Evidence Society], Journal of Religious History, Volume 11 Issue 4, Pages 558 - 577
Formation
The society was founded to counter atheism in Victorian society.Bernard Shaw's Book Reviews, Bernard Shaw, Brian Tyson, {{ISBN|0-271-01548-9}}, pp 139-140 Its original purpose was described by a contemporaneous source as "meeting, in fair argument, the current scepticism". Its original methods were, in the words of this source:[http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fnwng%2Fnwng0031%2F&tif=00387.TIF Notices of New Books] — Modern Scepticism, New Englander and Yale review p373, Cornell University, April 1, 1872
- Lectures for the educated
- Classes aimed at the "lower grades of society, to save them from infidelity"
- Circulation of tracts, and offering prizes for engaging in private study followed by competitive examination.
Its membership consisted of evangelical and moderate churchmen, including Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin and Charles Dickison, Bishop of Meath, as well as prominent scientists, including John Hall Gladstone and William Henry Dallinger.
See also
References
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External links
- [http://www.christianevidencesociety.org.uk Christian Evidence Society]
- [http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=CES Records of the Christian Evidence Society at the Church of England Record Centre]
Category:Christian organisations based in the United Kingdom
Category:Christian apologetics
Category:Christianity and science
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