and Germany.12
12.
,,oJilliam Ed<;vin Boardman, a product of the llBurned-Over District" of New York and a graduate of Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, was a controversial promoter of the higher life. Closely related to the American Holiness Movement, his very influential book, THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE (Boston: Henry Hoyt, 1859, revised 1871), argued that every Christian must achieve a higher plane of Christian life, entered by an act of faith as at justification. His theological perspective is critiqued by Jacob J. Abbott, "Boardman's Higher Christian Life," BIBLIOTHECA SACRA fu~D BIBLICAL REPOSITORY, 17 (July 1860), 508-535; by John A. Todd, "Law of Spiritual Grmvth," THE BIBLICAL REPERTORY AND PRINCETON REVIEW, 32 (1860), 608-640. Both of these reviewers take Boardman to task for faulty scholarship and theological error. Boardman's work is also evaluated by ',oJarfield, PERFECTIONISM, II, 463-494. The most severe critique is that of Henry A. Boardman, "THE HIGHER LIFE" DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION TRIED BY THE WORD OF GOD (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1877), which serves to evaluate the entire resultant movement. A less influential work was IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT; OR, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF THE BIBLE (London: Daldy, Isbister, 1875). Despite the obvious shortcomings of his work, Boardman, perhaps more than anyone else, raised interest in the possibility of the higher Christian life. His life has been chronicled by his wife, THE LIFE AND LABORS OF THE REV. W. E. BOARDMAN (New York: Appleton, 1887). It is enthusiastic and at times self-contradictory but no more adequate work has been produced. W. E. Boardman, THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE (Boston: Henry Hoyt, 1858), is credited by 17