William Wilberforce on Real, Practical Christianity

Meet William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce is best known as the 18th century Christian in British Parliament who helped usher in the end of the slave trade. Brought to life in the recent movie Amazing Grace, Wilberforce stands as a tremendous example for contemporary Christians as we seek to live out our respective callings where God has put us.

But did you know Wilberforce is also credited with the “reformation of manners” in England? That staid, proper Victorian era that prized respectability and proper living is due in part to Wilberforce’s influence! He urged his fellow Christians to live out their faith, not just talk about it. Sounds like timeless advice, doesn’t it? Sounds like a message contemporary Christians also need to hear!

Real Christianity by William Wilberforce; revised and updated by Bob Beltz. Bethany House, 2006 (updated edition). 204 pages.

Thankfully, we can indeed hear–or read–Wilberforce’s own words, or a version of them. Wilberforce’s influential book on practical Christianity is just as relevant today as it was centuries ago. An updated version (thanks to Wilberforce scholar Bob Beltz) brings Wilberforce’s thoughts to life in a manner accessible to teens and the average layperson. For those wanting to dive into Wilberforce’s original words, the kindle version is free!

Wilberforce calls upon the “Christians” in the England of his day to live out their faith, to strive for real holiness in looking to Christ and not a system built off their own effort. His complaints and challenges sound like they could be written in today’s contemporary Western culture! And yet, precisely because they weren’t written in today’s culture, Wilberforce’s insights are timeless, not bound to trendy examples.

Wilberforce moves from an examination of the “state of contemporary Christianity” (Beltz’s chapter title) to a discussion of Christian behavior, duty, and reliance on Christ. A bit repetitive at times, Wilberforce calls it like he sees it and repeatedly challenges Christians to look to Christ.

For those willing to dive in and wrestle with the language, do check out Wilberforce’s original; it’s free on kindle. That being said, the contemporary version is outstanding and worth reading, too. It is definitely the more accessible volume to read with teens. Read on for a fuller discussion of the differences between the two versions.

Real Christianity (modern) compared with Practical Christianity (original)

The titles alone should give you an indication of the differences between Wilberforce’s original work (first published 1797) and Beltz’s contemporary adaption. Wilberforce’s original title was

A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity by William Wilberforce.

Beltz strives to maintain Wilberforce’s primary points and is pretty successful at distilling down a wordy, 18th century tome to a readable version accessible to teens and up. Beltz writes,

My goal in this book is to ‘translate’ Wilberforce’s classic work out of the linguistic style of the late eighteenth century into a book that captures Wilberforce’s message for a twenty-first-century audience. Wilberforce purists will cringe, I’m sure. But for those who do, it should be noted that Wilberforce, in his book, recommended doing exactly this with works from previous generations that had become inaccessible to the common man because of language or style.

I, for one, am thankful Beltz took the time to adapt and update Wilberforce’s original work. In my busy schedule, with my towering piles of books-to-be-read, it is hard to find the mental stamina to read a work like the original in a timely fashion. I’ve enjoyed comparing the two versions, but the modern language version is the one I will read with my kids when they are teens. Here is a sampling of the two versions side-by-side. This is taken from the opening section of chapter 4, second paragraph. Original version first, followed by the modern language version:

But any such expectations as these would be greatly disappointed. There is in fact a region of truth, and a region of errors. They who hold the fundamental doctrines of Scripture in their due force, hold also in its degree of purity the practical system which Scripture inculcates. But they who explain away the former, soften down the latter also, and reduce it to the level of their own defective scheme. It is not from any confidence in the superior amount of their own performances, or in the greater vigour of their own exertions, that they reconcile themselves to their low views of the satisfaction of Christ, and of the influence of the Spirit; but it should rather seem to their plan so to depress the required standard of practice, that no man need fall short of it, that no superior aid can be wanted for enabling us to attain it…..

What we see is the opposite. Those who hold to the biblical doctrines of the work of Christ as the basis of acceptance tend also to take the Bible’s instructions concerning righteous living more seriously. Those who have created a system a system of their own tend to water down what is required in the practice of their faith….

Beltz certainly does more than simply update vocabulary; he offers a crisp style, a clear distillation of Wilberforce’s central themes. Despite a dramatic update, however, Wilberforce’s passion and intensity come through loud and clear. I’d like to think that if he were living in the 21st century, his version would sound similar to Beltz’s.