Customer Reviews

Revival and Revivalism:

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This book is a must-read for anyone interested in decisional theology--from either side of the issue. If you've wondered about the "strategy" of Campus Crusade, about Billy Graham's percentage of truly born-again converts, about how Calvinistic theology deals with evangelism, about whether you're born again if you "decide" for Christ and walk down an aisle one day (and go on living just as before), about fruitless Christians, about preachers who don't preach, about manufactured revivals (e.g., the "Toronto blessing"), you need to read this book. It's steeped in history, great quotes, and inspiring historical analyis. It left me with a deep sense of sadness at what a superficial, misguided job most evangelical churches and preachers do in raising up the standard of Christ. It deals with fundamental errors of our times--cheap grace, superficial Christianity and the failure to preach the law and the gospel. I've been a Christian 25 years or so. I read all the time. This is one of the 3 most important books I've read; it changed my outlook on fundamental things.

Iain Murray once again has done a marvelous work by his juxtaposition of genuine revival and man made attempts at revivalism. He carefully traces the history of such human inventions and carefully treads along a rather slippery slope. Murray is unafraid to go counter to much public opinion.I consider myself a reformed pentecostal and I am aware that my position is quite tenuous. However I concur with Murray's finding and advocate his position. Truth may cause sentimental ideas to crumble but it will not destroy a genuine work of God. This well written tome should be read by all who are interested in revival. Even if one does not believe in revival for today, this book is a wonderful piece relating to church history.

This is an excellent book, having major implication both in my personal life and in the church at large. He chronicles the rise of "revivalism" and its attendant effects on the church both then and now. Read it to understand the failure of the modern day church to truly experience revival, having substituted it for a sham emotional, pie-in-the-sky experience that can be produced at will. You will also understand some of the deleterious effects that Charles Finney's ministry had, along with the effects that it continues to have. This book was an eye-opener to me, and I highly recommend it for your consideration.

Dr. Iain Murray is one of my favorite authors. His writings are engaging and enlightening. I have not found a work of his yet that was not well researched and documented. This work is no different.

In this work Dr. Murray takes a look at modern revival movements and modern evangelism through an historical analysis of where the revival movement begin in the United States in the early 1800's. Dr. Murray leaves no stone unturned in his examine. He marks his tracks well as he dives into the lives of men who did not know that their methods of "revival" would alter American Christianity for the worst. Today, we who stand for the truth of Scripture are still having to deal with their incorrect revival methods.

For those interested in studying revivals and why modern American evangelism is not working without a the truth of Scripture, this is a classic work to study.

This book addresses the good and bad of the awakenings and revivals that have shaped the Christian culture, as well as the culture of the US in general. Murray does a great job of laying out the history of the revivals (both genuine and false) and shows us principles to avoid false revivals in the future.

One of the most startling observations is found in the discussions of the results of false revivals on the New England colonies (he calls them "the Burned Over region." The sad part is that as you read you see that the modern church is making some of the same mistakes.

This is an important book, and I believe every church leader needs to read it.
To God All Glory!

Murray writes in his conclusion, "In the end, while evangelicalism was seeking to guard faith in Scripture, it was her readiness to be impressed by pragmatic arguments, and by alleged success, by quantity rather than quality, that did so much to deprive her of true, authority and strength" (p 383). Murray, in his book Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, reviews the history of evangelical Christianity between 1750 and 1858. This book is a must read for contemporary Christian leaders. Books on self-help, life coaching/coaches, ten-steps to church growth, and leadership styles are pushed upon pastors to read by those in church leadership, as well as promoted by our consumeric Christian marketers. But now of these books will help the minister to think theologically about their place in history. Nor, will such populist books that promote our well-being expose the flaws and fallibility of current market-driven church growth and church life. Murray helps us to think logically and reasonably about how we have come to the place in the Christian ministry where pragmatism and utilitarian thinking is the foundation for church life and ministry. He does not cover the period between 1859 and 2007, but Revival & Revivalism will portray the foundation for much of contemporary evangelicalism. Murray writes, "Our understanding of God's ways in history is far too fallible to make providence the test of what is truth." As Church life here in America is becoming more and more a shadow of American life, promoted through American entrepreneurialism and capitalisms, and gained through marketing and business praxis, it would be good for the American evangelical pastor to understand his or her roots in the history of evangelicalism. Shedding light on our past might help us to see why we are exchanging the foundation of Scripture to determine the life of the church for Americanism and self-help. If church life and thinking theologically matters to you--and it should as a pastor--read this book.



By Chip Anderson, author of Destroying Our Private Cities, Building Our Spiritual Life

I came across this book providentually on my Pastors coffee table waiting for a ride to a Church we were to visit. The title has caught my eye since I had done some study in American religious history. I was familiar with the split Charles Finney had caused in American Evangelism...but not on the details. When I started the book...I knew I had to get my own copy.
It is the best treatment of the subject...focusing on the Old Method....the cultural changes in America..the rise of New Divinity and the development of the New Method's.
The weakness of the book is with not dealing with how "unionism"... the cooperation of Calvinist Presbyterians and Baptist with Arminian Episcopalians, Free-will Baptist and Methodist in their Churches...he calls "catholicity of spirit" lead to the overthrow of Calvinism that was effective in bringing in true revival by focusing on preaching the Word and letting the Holy Spirit do His work upon the hearts of the unregenerated. This opened the door for Revivalism.
Finney was not the fountain of the New Methods....but he was the most influentual to implement them and to assume any questioning of the methods as "quenching the Holy Spirit."

It will get you started on studying more on American Christian History

This was a great book. I loved all the extended eyewitness accounts to what was happening during certai revivals. You learn about the Reformed revivalists Samuel Davies, Archibald Alexander, and Timothy Dwight at Yale University.

You learn about the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky, both the good and the emotional excesses. You will also learn about the years of the 2nd Great Awakening.

Murray seems to be skeptical of the reliability of Charles' Finney's memoirs. He also is quick to point out that Finney departed from Reformed theology early on and that he denied original sin. He points out that Finney viewed revivals as manmade productions rather than as miraculous manifestations of the Spirit.

There is also an appendix where Murray decries the lack of information about revivals in the deep south of the United States.

I also liked the discussion of the 1857-1858 New York revivals. I did feel that there could have been more coverage given to this particular revival, and how it affected many urban centers in the nation prior to the Civil War.

But this book should definitely be in the shelf of Christians interested in American church history.

'But instead of revival and revivalism being recognized as two different things, the remarkable fact is that the promoters of the new view, whose books came to govern evangelical thought, appeared to believe that they represented the authentic thought of American Christian history.' Introduction

Iain H Murray reveals a positive aspect in the design of his book by showing a very different view to the one proffered by those who have traded on revivalism and its transatlantic continuation. He presses for a distinction between revival and revivalism and recommends a recovery of the former 'as shaped by the Spirit of God in revivals', but issues a stern caution at what is engineered by the superfluous proceeds of revivalism.

Re-affirming the fundamental freedom of religious expression, Murray is certainly not advocating restraint as if experientialism were a mortal sin. Yet certain people can't bring themselves to accept that it is the Holy Spirit 'whose work it is to apply to sinners the blessings purchased for them at Calvary. The ministry of the Spirit remains subject to Christ in whom alone He dwells without measure (John 3:34)'. p 19 However, it does not take Murray long before turning to the Book of Acts in support of his views, p 20, insisting on an alignment of doctrine with the evangelical heroes of the 18th century. Most certainly not American, Bishop Moule is questionably cited in support of the belief of the 'first gift' being followed on by other 'actions' - an element readily apparent in the theology of Lloyd-Jones. As this has been the traditional parting of the ways, with good grace this reviewer pressed on and inclined his ear to more piety and pearls of wisdom. (Conservatives, e.g. John Stott, prefer the view by which all believers receive the Trinity in its fullness at salvation, and no part is left or withheld until later.)

Continuing on the understanding 'that the Holy Spirit has appointed means to be used for the advancement of the gospel, pre-eminently the teaching of the Word of God accompanied by earnest prayer', p 22, Murray distinctively fortifies the concept of God's sovereignty in salvation. Deserving of praise is the mention that 'thus Davies and his brethren repudiated the idea that revivals restore miraculous gifts to the churches', thereby eliminating them from the list of mysterious 'actions'. The evidences by which revivals should be known, articulates Murray, 'are the same as those which form the permanent evidences of real Christianity', whereby the lure of extravagance is categorically denied access to true revival. The neglect or total omission of these general principles has led to revivalism.

The significant founding and ubiquitous influence of old Princeton casts its long shadow in the second chapter. To Murray's understanding, 'any policy of hurrying men who possessed only religious experience and a gift of speech into the ministry, was entirely alien to Princeton.' p 43 Indicative of its Puritan ancestry, a concern for genuine piety broke out, initiating revivals close-by at Newark and NY, in 1764-65. This eventually spread west. For Murray, the historical record will show that the Second Great Awakening, to all intents and purposes, started out as a genuine revival.

The testimony of Devereux Jarratt certainly caught my attention. Wesley deceitfully warned his transatlantic brethren of men who would follow him and bring in new doctrines, 'particularly Calvinian', thereby betraying his determination to undermine the Word as a means of grace so to get people to live on a basis other than special revelation. These congregations, whose good graces Wesley had entered upon only through the person of Jarratt, years later rewarded good with evil when unexpectedly the Methodists parted ways with the mature Jarratt, and most of the congregations in his circuit and other counties left with them. Jarratt's reflection on this experience, after having being strengthened by a fellow believer who had been beset by similar doubt, bears out how his differed with the perfectionism of Wesley:

'It was a good lesson to me, and I endeavored to profit by it. It is not therefore without a cause that I am led to judge that pride is a principal agent in the mission of many in our day.' p 86 Murray compassionately adds: 'His opinions are a valuable reminder that revivals never usher in a state of perfection and that Christians can, unwittingly, become the means of spreading error as well as truth.'

Which begs the question: has Iain Murray?

If I had my way, every minister of the gospel in the English speaking world would be required to read this book. I personally believe that it is one the three most important books that I have ever read. If you want to understand the apostasy and hardness to the gospel in our modern American culture, this book will show you that the tap roots go back to the 19th century and the ministry of Charles Finney. Finney denied such cardinal doctrines as original sin, total depravity, and the election of grace. He believed that revivals were the natural result of natural means, rather than the supernatural result of God's Sovereign Grace. In accordance with his Arminian theology Finney introduced "new measures" into the evangelical church, essentially living according to the principle that "the ends justify the means" in evangelizing the lost. The result was entire cities filled with fruitless souls convinced that they were on the pathway to heaven, and who had been innoculated against the true gospel by Finney's doctrine and methods. The Old Paths were lost as zeal increased to follow Finney's new paths. Our generation in this beginning of the 21st century is still reaping the bitter fruits from the seeds that Finney sowed over a hundred years ago. May the Lord have mercy upon us and raise up men who preach Apostolic truth with Apostolic hearts in the power of the Holy Spirit to this and the next generation! The recovery of the Old Paths is the great and pressing need of the hour. Nothing could be more relevant to our age.