I have spent a lot of time researching Keswick or higher life theology. I wrote a PhD dissertation on it (2006), and I condensed it into an article (2008) and revised it as an academic book (2010), which I recently condensed and updated into a more accessible book (2017).

Here is how I define two key terms in my 2010 book Let Go and Let God?

1. The “early Keswick movement” refers to a movement from 1875 to 1920 that was (1) conservatively evangelical; (2) based on and distinguished by the belief that the majority of Christians are living in defeat and that the secret to living “the higher life,” “the deeper life,” or “the victorious Christian life” is consecration followed by Spirit-filling; and (3) stimulated by annual conventions at Keswick, England, and literature by its propagators.
2. Keswick theology refers to the view of sanctification shared by the prominent propagators of the early Keswick movement.

Keswick is a small town in the Lake District in northwest England, and it recently became a World Heritage Site. Since 1875, it has hosted a meeting in July for the Keswick Convention. It started as a small one-week event, but now it runs for three weeks and attracts up to 15,000 adults and children. Its impact has extended all over the UK and the world. From 1875 to about 1920, those meetings featured higher life theology. Beginning in the 1920s, the Keswick Convention’s view of sanctification began to shift from the view that the leaders of the early Keswick Convention promoted from 1875 to 1920. William Graham Scroggie (1877–1958) led that transformation to a view of progressive sanctification closer to the Reformed view. More recently its speakers have included people like Don Carson, Tim Chester, Sinclair Ferguson, and Christopher Ash, whose views on the Christian life differ significantly from the early Keswick movement.

For the first half of 2018, my family lived in Cambridge, England, during my research sabbatical, and in June I was able to visit Keswick for the first time.

I also corresponded with some brothers who work for Keswick Ministries, and the Ministry Director, Dr. James Robson, kindly answered a few of my questions.

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1. I’ve written a bit on Keswick theology, and you direct Keswick Ministries. What’s your take on my work?

Thanks, Andy. I’m glad for the opportunity to engage in this way. I have three interlocking ‘takes’ on your work: interest, appreciation and concern.

My first take is ‘interest’ because it’s always fascinating to have a window into history, particularly your own! And in this case, there is helpful insight into Christians and a movement that have had a profound impact under God across the globe.

Then I have ‘appreciation’, on many levels. Your work is critical in the best sense of the word, bringing everything to the bar of Scripture and evaluating it against what the Bible says; it is pastoral, with a desire for the building up of God’s people and a deep concern for authentic discipleship; and it is rooted in careful research and scholarship while also being clear and accessible.

The third ‘take’, of ‘concern’, arises not directly from your work, because you have been careful here, but from possible unintended consequences of it. On the one hand, it is possible that some could miss much that was good about the early Keswick movement and those who attended—a deep love for God, a deep longing for and pursuit of all that God has for his people, a passion for Christlikeness and a zeal for mission. I particularly appreciated your point on page 45 of No Quick Fix: “It is better to be a God-loving, holiness-pursuing Christian who affirms higher life theology than a professing Christian who is theologically accurate but cold-hearted and immoral”. We would both smile ironically, I imagine, if any reader ended up dividing Christians into two distinct types, ‘right’ and ‘confused’, with a new kind of ‘higher life’ that is seen in being ‘right’, having a particular ‘view’ or ‘knowledge’! On the other, it is possible that oft-used shorthand of “Keswick” or “Keswick theology” or “Keswick movement” could lead some to think there is a simple continuity between the theology critiqued in your work and the Keswick Convention today. In No Quick Fix, you helpfully make that distinction on p. 3: “I also want to be careful to distinguish higher life theology from the Keswick Convention today.” But others may not be so careful.

2. How has the theology of the Keswick Convention changed from 1875 until today?

There are many ways in which the theology of the Keswick Convention has remained unchanged—on the Trinity, on the person and work of Christ, and so on. Because it is a Bible Convention, whose final authority in matters of faith and doctrine is the Bible, it is right that what has been taught always is evaluated against Scripture. And in the particular area of sanctification, in the sense of a Christian’s ongoing walk with Jesus Christ, there has been a recognition, I think, that a different understanding of sanctification than originally taught reflects Biblical teaching better.

This shift is reflected in our website’s outline of our beliefs: “The Holy Spirit lives in all those he has regenerated. He makes them increasingly Christ-like in character and behaviour and gives them power for their witness in the world.” It is reflected in our publications (see e.g., Peter Lewis, Becoming Christlike [IVP, 2016]), and it is reflected in our Trustees and speakers. Tim Chester is our Chair of Trustees, and he has written clearly on progressive sanctification (You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions [IVP, 2008; Crossway, 2010]). Chester, Don Carson, and others are regular speakers at the Convention. Jonathan Lamb with Ian Randall spells out well where we are today in Knowing God Better: The Vision of the Keswick Movement (IVP, 2015):

For many years the emphasis of the Keswick movement has been on the call for steady life transformation and growth in Christlikeness, but there has always been room at the Convention for ‘preaching for a decision’, when individuals hear God’s Word, sense the Spirit’s leading, and commit themselves more wholeheartedly to live for Christ. Such moments of focused intention are not crises that somehow achieve a higher level of spiritual experience, but are often manifestations of the power of God’s Word and Spirit in provoking renewed repentance and faith, and a realization of the vital importance of living more fully under the lordship of Christ.