Godly Ambition

Reviews / Votes

a carefully researched and clearly written appreciation of Stott that will set the benchmark for any subsequent studies. ... Chapman has given us a fair interpretation of his ministry, which offers manu illuminating insights. It is the first sympathetically critical biography with which any others will have to contend. * Derek J. Tidball, Baptist Quarterly * Chapman has provided a lucid account of someone described by one of his sparring partners, David Edwards, as 'the most influential clergyman in the Church of England during the Twentieth Century'. * Andrew Norman, Theology Vol. 116 * Chapman's biography tells the story well, with an eye to background detail and a lightness of touch in handling the nuances of theological debate. * John Saxbee, Times Literary Supplement * Godly Ambition views the ministry of John Stott in historical perspective and puts it into its social context. The analysis recounts his well-known successes but, just as illuminating, his unreached goals and disappointments. The result is a judicious, fair-minded, and instructional look at one of the most remarkable Christian leaders of the past 100 years. It is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary world evangelicalism. * Timothy Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church * Alister Chapman's well-crafted study expertly situates the career of John Stott, first in Stott's post-war efforts to revitalize evangelical forces in Britain's Anglican churches and then from the 1970s as a thoughtful leader of evangelicals around the world. Chapman's wide-ranging and empathetic effort to probe the 'godly ambition' of his title make this an important book for an exceedingly important figure in the modern world history of Christianity. * Mark A. Noll, author of America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln * John Stott has been a giant influence in the shaping of evangelicalism in the English-speaking world and far beyond. He embodies much that is most thoughtful and winsome in the movement. Godly Ambition will reward its readers on multiple levels. From John Stott's pacifism during his formative years to his global vision in his final days, Alister Chapman's account of his life will illumine the broader development of not only Stott but evangelicalism itself. * John Ortberg, Senior Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church * The global Evangelical movement was moulded by a wide range of individuals in the later twentieth century. None was more important than John Stott, who by his lucid writing and strategic vision forged attitudes that were intellectually mature but still spiritually vibrant. Alister Chapman's account of John Stott's life is a probing appraisal of his significance that explains the trajectory of his career without diminishing his stature. * David Bebbington, Professor of History, University of Stirling * Chapman succeeds in providing us with a more honest, certainly more nuanced account, than heretofore, including some new insights. * Derek J. Tidball, Baptist Quarterly * Alister Chapman's crisply written and scrupulously impartial study captures the delicately managed contradictions that characterised the life and work of John Stott, whose Evangelical career started with fundamentalist tracts smuggled into Rugby School 'in brown paper' and ended with a vast ministry in five continents and the status of an Evangelical pope. ... Godly Ambition is a perceptive study whose importance will increase as scholars continue to map the complex relationships between 'Western' and 'Global' Christianity that John Stott, the ascetical jetsetter, did much to build. * Dominic Erdozain, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *