Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Curti Lecture Series) [Paperback]

Paul K. Conkin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (December 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299127249
• ISBN-13: 978-0299127244
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, April 22, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Curti Lecture Series) (Paperback)

History is. This book is about history. Few people (let alone christians) know the history of christian religious experience in the United States. This book provides a detailed and rare scholarly description of what happened during the August 1801 revival in Kentucky which has come to be known as the Cane Ridge revival. This book makes no attempt to provide a theological framework for revival, either for or against, nor the many experiences which may occur during and after revival. Rather, it is an honest and unbiased effort to give you a window to the past so you can see what happened and come to your own conclusions. I wish all books on revival were this well written!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Careful and objective, June 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Curti Lecture Series) (Paperback)

Much has been written about the "objectivity question" in history. Can a historian put his biases aside and write an objective account of an historical event? Conkin's Cane Ridge demonstrates with what dignity and power a historian is able to treat a religious movement to which he has little spiritual or emotional attachment. Conkin has written a first-rate intellectual history that includes the best delineation of biblical Christianity by a non-believer that I've ever read.

Conkin's careful examination of the 1801 Kentucky revival demonstrates that the religious changes which began there had roots deep in devout, but staid, Presbyterianism. Conkin rejects the notion that the revival was simply an example of frontier backwardness and downplays the swooning and "barking" that continue to be the staple of college lecturers.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The History of American Religion, September 30, 2004

By 

Robb Kelley "Robb Kelley" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Curti Lecture Series) (Paperback)

Coming from a background that is neither of the Restoration Movement, nor of the Holiness movements that came from the Cane Ridge American revival period, I still found this book to be objective and interesting. Conkin, as previously stated by other reviewers, does an excellent job of presenting the materials in a way that is neither flattering, nor insulting to the frontier's people. Instead, he gives rational explanation for why they behave how they do and a peek into the 17th century religious mindset that would prompt the religious exercising. This is a book worth checking out, even according to this 20-something Bible College student.