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I am working on McLoughlin’s ‘Modern Revivalism – Charles G. Finney to Billy Graham’. As I am writing an essay on Charles G. Finney, referring to this book is inevitable. It is interesting to see some different views from McLoughlin in this book, compared to Iain H. Murray’s excellent work – Revival and Revivalism. McLoughlin’s account of Finney is much more positive compared to Murray’s. He stressed the role historical context played in shaping Finney’s revivalism, while Murray tends to focus more on the split among the Presbyterians as a consequence of Finney’s influence. The best book for reading pleasure is Stuart Piggin’s ‘Firestorm of the Lord’ which deals more directly with the issue of revival and revivalism. The definition of revival and the difference between revival and revivalism are discussed in all three books, with Murray’s being a history account, while Mcloughlin looks at the larger American context of its revivalism, and Piggin includes more pastoral concerns.

Revival and Revivalism: Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858