Customer Reviews

Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost (Curti Lectures)

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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!

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.

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.

Cane Ridge America's Pentecost is an interesting look into the history and polity of early "western" Presbyterianism. It names the key players of an eventual break amongst Presbyterians and fully explores the Scottish Presbyterian Communion, which is in itself fascinating. Placed together with another volume or two concerning the specific spiritual hilights of the extended Communion (Revival) at Can Ridge, I believe this book has much to offer. In fact, reading it before other books more "spiritually" focused might be advisable.

The complexity of this history is not so great as I had suspected but the dissapointment I experienced had to do with the limited amount of information produced concerning the actual events at Cane Ridge. The sub-title, America's Pentecost, had me expecting connections with Pentecostalism but I found at places where one might express certain issues with the Biblical gifting of the Holy Spirit, the author tends to ignore or avoid this use and explanation that might help in understanding them.

In short, I value what I have learend concerning Scottish rites and rituals in Presbyterianism but had expected more seasoning and crunch.

I enjoyed this book for for its broad overview view of the state of American religion on the frontier at the start of the 19th century. It is more than an examination of the extraordinary events at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. It chronicles the start of the so-called Great Revival or Second Great Awakening with many fresh insights I had not encountered before, and provides background for many features of American religious life that are still with us today.
The Cane Ridge meeting 1801 was also no doubt one of the most amazing chapters in American history, and this is a good, sympathetic read.

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PLEASE GIVE CHAPTER AND VERSE FOR YOUR PENTECOST AND YOUR RESTORATION