About

This site was created by David Malcolm Bennett. David was born in London, England, during the Second World War and moved to Australia with his Australian-born wife and children in 1973. He has spent over fifty years in the book trade, mainly as a bookseller, and has been writing seriously since 1985.

He is an evangelical theologian and church historian, who has the gift of doing thorough and painstaking research and presenting the results in a readable form. He is also one of the world’s leading authorities on William and Catherine Booth, having edited and published their letters, plus Catherine’s diary and reminiscences (now available in three PDF files on one CD). He has also penned two biographies of William: The General: William Booth (two volumes) and William Booth and his Salvation Army, which Steve Bussey has called “A classic”. He also loves to lecture on the Booths and is available for speaking engagements in the Brisbane area. (Further afield will be considered in certain circumstances.)

He has recently transcribed and edited the letters that Catherine Booth wrote to her parents. It has been a massive job, but fascinating. This collection is available on a PDF at Australian $10.

The first volume of his new book on Catherine Booth, “Catherine Booth from Timidity to Boldness”, is to be published by Morning Star Publishing in November 2020. He has also nearly completed the second volume.

His smaller book on William Booth was a finalist in the biography section of the CALEB Awards, 2013. The CALEB awards are for Australian Christian writers..

David is also on the editorial committee for the online Australasian Journal of Salvation Army History. The first two issues were published in 2016, two more in 2017 and another two in 2018. The first of this year’s two issues is already online.

He has also written The Altar Call: Its Origins and Present Usage, his M.Th thesis (awarded with merit), which examines the practice of inviting people forward after a presentation of the Gospel, and its companion volume The Sinner’s Prayer: Its Origins and Dangers. Amongst his other books is The Origins of Left Behind Eschatology, his Ph.D dissertation, which examines the origins of the ideas behind the Left Behind books.