New study of revivals
The African American revivalist Amanda Berry Smith
Why do revivals take place? Are they the result of ‘a surprising work of God' or can they be fostered, planned and promoted at a given time and place, as many ‘revivalist' preachers have believed? ‘Revivalist' seems to have been used from the early nineteenth century, after the Second Great Awakening in America, as a term to denote individuals or churches that sought to create revival by their own efforts, rather than praying and waiting for God to act.
In his recently published book Nigel Scotland looks into the question of revivals and revivalism by studying several nineteenth-century revivalist preachers who came from America to Britain, some of them well known, such as D.L. Moody, and others, such as the African American women Zilpha Elaw and Amanda Berry Smith (above), much less so. Nigel Scotland outlines their lives and from their writings examines the characteristics of their evangelistic campaigns and their attitudes to revival. He also looks at their impact on the church in Britain and on social life in Britain and America. The result is a fascinating historical study that contributes greatly to the study of revival movements and has relevance to our methods of evangelism today
Dr Nigel Scotland teaches a course at Trinity College on Revivals and Revivalism; he has taught Church History part time at Trinity since 2007. He is author of many books including Squires in the Slums: Settlements and Missions in Late-Victorian London (2007), Evangelical Anglicans in a Revolutionary Age (2004), and studies of Lord Palmerston (2000) and Archbishop John Bird Sumner (1995). He was Field Chair and Principal Lecturer in Church History at the University of Gloucestershire until 2007 and was made Honorary Research Fellow of that university in 2007. He also has oversight of Trinity's outreach near Bristol cathedral.
Nigel Scotland, Apostles of the Spirit and of Fire published by Paternoster, Milton Keynes/Colorado Springs/Hyderabad, July 2009