Breaking Chains: Phoebe Palmer’s Populist Quest for Religious Liberty in the Old World

Historians such as Donald W. Dayton and George Marsden agree that the spread of holiness theology can largely be traced to Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874). The extensive reach of her revivals paved the way for a form of religious populism indicative of the democratization of American Christianity during the period. However, her holiness revivalism did not remain in America. Palmer’s reach ultimately expanded to the British Isles through her travels to England and Scotland. Her ministry paved the way for future evangelical movements to originate. Wesleyan historian Melvin Easterday Dieter notes the critical effect Palmer made in England, paving the way for the explosion of the late nineteenth-century Keswick movement. Despite Dieter’s and other scholars’ notations of Palmer’s impact abroad, there has yet to be an in-depth study on how Palmer’s revivalism impacted Global Evangelicalism in her travels to the British Isles. This paper will argue that one of Palmer’s unique contributions to Global Evangelicalism vis-a-vis her travels to regions such as England, Scotland, and Ireland is the populist theology and praxis that pervades her revivalism amid the Established Churches in the Old World. To uncover Palmer’s populist impact, her interactions in the testimonial volume Four Years in the Old will primarily be considered. However, this will be analyzed along with her broader writings and the historical context surrounding Palmer’s ministry.