Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Contexts: High Churchmanship and the Lay Precedent -- Background: A Man of Faith and Commerce -- Theological Activism (i): The 1770s -- Theological Activism (ii): 1780s to 1800s -- Ecclesiastical Activism -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

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Lay Activism and the High Church Movement of the Late Eighteenth Century: The Life and Thought of William Stevens, 1732-1807 , by Robert M. Andrews, is the first full-length study of Stevens’ life and thought. Historiographically revisionist and contextualised within a neglected history of lay High Church activism, Andrews presents Stevens as an influential High Church layman who brought to Anglicanism not only his piety and theological learning, but his wealth and business acumen. With extensive social links to numerous High Church figures in late Georgian Britain, Stevens’ lay activism is shown to be central to the achievements and effectiveness of the wider High Church movement during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.