Christmas Evans has been acknowledged by many as 'the greatest preacher that God has ever given to Wales.' Thomas Raffles, the Independent minister of Great George Street Chapel, Liverpool, acknowledged him to be 'the mightest preacher of the age'; the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, said, 'One of the things that I should like to enjoy when I enter paradise is a preaching festival with John Elias, Christmas Evans, Williams of Wern and others occupying the pulpit. That is how these fathers of Nonconformity appeal to me'; D. M. Lloyd-Jones speaks of 'the great Christmas Evans, who, some would say, was the greatest preacher that the Baptists have ever had in Great Britain--certainly he and Spurgeon would be the two greatest'.
Yet today many Christian people would ask 'Christmas who?' And those who have heard the name Christmas Evans seem unaware of the details of his life and the influence he had on Wales, and particularly the Baptist denomination, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
In this extensively researched and inspiring biography, Tim Shenton has sought to correct his imbalance. The author has, wherever possible, allowed Christmas Evans to speak for himself. He has not attempted to conceal or minimize Evan's failings, nor exaggerated his gifts, but has portrayed them with the restraint that honesty demands.
In addition to the main focus of the biography, the author has also provided sketches of the lives and ministries of other Welsh preachers, who either influenced or were associated with Christmas Evans, with the aim of informing the reader, as far as possible, of some of the great men who have served the Principality with that wholehearted devotion to the cause of Christ that was so prominent in the life of Christmas Evans.
