Revival And Revivalism , the making and marring of American Evangelicalism 1750 - 1858

Marrying careful historical research to popular and relevant presentation, Revival and Revivalism traces the spiritually epoch-making events of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the eyes of those who lived at their centre. Fundamental to the book’s thesis is a rejection of the frequent identification of ‘revival’ with ‘revivalism’. The author demonstrates that a common understanding of the New Testament idea of revival was prevalent in most denominations throughout the period 1750-1858. Revivalism, on the other hand, is different both in its origin and in its tendencies. Its ethos is man centred and its methods too close to the manipulative to require a supernatural explanation. Iain Murray argues that an inability to recognize this distinction has led many to ignore the new and different teaching on evangelism and revival which began to be popularized in the 1820s. While the case against that teaching was argued almost universally by the leaders of the Second Great Awakening their testimony was submerged beneath propaganda which promised a ‘new era’ if only the churches would abandon the older ways. Today, when that propaganda is largely discredited, there is a great need to rediscover the earlier understanding of revival possessed by those who most intimately experienced it. Revival and Revivalism will do much to aid this rediscovery. Powerfully presented, it contains a message of major importance for contemporary Christians.

Publisher: Banner of Truth
Type: Hardback
ISBN: 9780851516608

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Iain Murray, from 1956, was for three years assistant to Dr Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel and there, with the late Jack Cullum, founded the Banner of Truth Trust in 1957. He left Westminster in 1961 for a nine-year pastorate at Grove Chapel, Camberwell. With the world-wide expansion of the Trust, Iain Murray became engaged full-time in its ministry from 1969 until 1981 when he responded to a call from St Giles Presbyterian Church, Sydney, Australia. Now based again in the UK, he and Jean live in Edinburgh. He has written many titles published by the Trust, in whose work he remains active. He is still writing.

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‘I have always been bothered by the thought that men in the 20th and 21st centuries have worn the hat of “revivalist,” as if they could start a revival anywhere they go. I saw revival as something so obscure in its meaning, and so artificial in its methods, that I doubted its very existence, regarding the Awakenings as simply man-made circuses with a religious flavor, when revivalists had more success than they do today. I arrived at the conclusion that true revival must not exist. I had no idea that this idea of man-made revival (revivalism) was a fairly new concept, and that in days gone by, men that rejected it as false embraced something else as true revival. This is what I discovered as I read the first chapters of Iain Murray’s “Revival and Revivalism.” I realized what I had known as revival was actually revivalism. In a nutshell, revivalism holds that through methods and personality, a person can bring ‘revival’ anywhere he goes, anytime he chooses. This idea came to be during and after the Awakenings, when men wanted to start movements like these in their own power. Revival, on the contrary, holds that the sovereign God chooses to expand the Spirit’s influence at certain times, resulting in mass conversions and spiritual growth of believers. Though He always uses the preaching of the Word, it is still not a predictable event, since personality, high-pressure methods, and emotional hysteria do not change the fact that revival only comes when God, of His own volition, chooses to bestow it. Is revival a work of man, or a work of God? Before you answer, you should read Murray’s work on the subject. You will not be disappointed.’ David J. Harris