Revivalism

• Main Authors: Kidd, Thomas S., Gutacker, Paul
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2022
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190863319.013.20; https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/51640/chapter/422295169

Abstract This chapter analyzes revivalism as a set of beliefs and practices that undergirded the transatlantic evangelical movement. From the 1740s onward, revivalism grew out of the religious awakenings across the North Atlantic world, dramatic events which early evangelicals narrated as extraordinary works of God. The chapter traces the antecedents, development, and legacies of these revivals and maps the ways in which they were interpreted and theorized by evangelicals. It then describes the beliefs that revivalism entailed, which grew from evangelical readings of scripture, history, and current events, as well as the practices that comprised revivals, including outdoor gatherings, small group meetings, prayer services, hymn-singing, and extemporaneous sermons. Moderate and radical evangelicals differed in their approaches to revival, especially in regard to what means were appropriate and the extent to which revivals fit within or undermined the established order. Yet, until the early nineteenth century, evangelicals generally agreed on the basics of revival: the importance of prayer, the centrality of itinerant preaching, and the need to participate in the work of the Holy Spirit converting others to saving faith. The chapter concludes with a discussion of later developments in revivalism, with particular attention to nineteenth-century preacher Charles Finney, whose emphasis on technique and confidence in human capability departed from the more modest approaches of eighteenth-century revivalists.