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April 7, 2011
Book Review: "A God-Sized Vision"
Learning from the revivals of the past may help ignite one today.
For me, the word “revival” usually brings to mind sweating, red-faced evangelists berating sweet old church ladies for letting their spiritual fires fizzle. I often offered my most fervent prayers at revival meetings during the 37th stanza of “Just as I Am,” because the preacher believed someone in the congregation needed to do business with the Lord. He wasn’t going to end the invitation until that burdened soul had its chance. Lord move in power; I’m ready to go home!
With A God-sized Vision: Revival Stories that Stretch and Stir (Zondervan, 2010), Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge restored my image of revival. This global history of revival from the 1730s through the 1950s covers familiar events in American church history—the First and Second Great Awakenings, the Businessmen’s Revival, and the Evangelical Boom of the 20th century. But what I found most interesting were stories of spiritual awakening worldwide, in places like East Africa, China, India, Wales, and Korea.
One of the authors’ great accomplishments, then, is correcting what may be a common stereotype of “revivalism” for many Americans. If they’re right, revival looks different in different places. For businessmen in North America in the mid-nineteenth century, revival began not with tents and sawdust trails, but with lunch-hour prayer meetings. In Korea, the movement of the Spirit ignited with the confession of sins—big ones, like adultery and murder—and brought missionaries of different denominations together for the gospel. In India, it began when Hindu convert Pandita Ramabai provided room, board, and education for helpless Indian women and orphans and encouraged them to pray for a mighty work of God.
I don’t hear many people talking about revival these days. You might think, then, that the topic is interesting but ultimately irrelevant. Not so. Although the authors don’t make the connections explicit, A God-sized Vision intersects with and informs several important contemporary issues.
First, at a time when we Western Christians are increasingly aware that we should pay more attention to Christian traditions in other places on the planet, Hansen and Woodbridge introduce us to some important players and events in global Christian history in the last 100 years. These stories help explain the temperament and emphases of Protestant (evangelical) Christianity in places like India, Korea, and East Africa.
Second, there has been a division between the “head” and “heart” in American Christianity for almost as long as there have been Christians in America. A God-sized Vision challenges this easy distinction. The so-called “new Reformed” movement has both defenders and critics on this blog. One of the contributions of this book, I think, for people trying to decide whether this new movement has anything to offer the American church is that it reminds us that the roots of the Reformed tradition in America are planted deeply in revivalism. The book begins with the Great Awakening of the 1730s and ‘40s, in which the major players—chief among them Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield—were theologically Reformed. Though the tradition now strikes many as unnecessarily cerebral—and often it is—this treatment reminds us that a deep conviction about the sovereignty of God includes believing that God can and longs to break into the human routine with a fresh dose of the Holy Spirit. I would go so far as to say that you can’t be truly Reformed if you aren’t truly hungry for revival.
Finally, in light of the renewed interest in social justice among American evangelicals, the authors do a great job pointing out the social benefits of revival, especially in other countries. Revival in Wales in 1905 had an enormous impact on Welsh society. “Output from the coal mines famously slowed because the horses wouldn’t move. Miners converted in the revival no longer kicked or swore at the horses, so the horses didn’t know what to do. Judges closed their courtrooms with nothing to judge” (103–104). In Wales, China, and India, individual conviction of sin among Christians led to reform in social and political spheres. We would do well to bear in mind that we each carry our own sinfulness into the battle for justice. The examples in this book remind us that we must attend to our own sin before—or at least while—we wage war against the sin of others.
I found an insight near the end of the book to be particularly challenging. “Revival doesn’t come to respectable Christians,” Ugandan Bishop Festo Kivengere explained. “The basis of revival is men and women shattered by their failures—aware that all is not well, helpless to do anything about it” (133). American evangelicals do a lot of hand wringing. But I don’t think we consider ourselves helpless. Hansen and Woodbridge have convinced me that instead of putting our hope in the next best strategy, we would do well to pray—and for revival, of all things.
Comments
I am actively researching the Primitive Methodists, a revival movement that was an offshoot from the Wesleyans, that began in 1807. They grew from 10 formal members in 1810 to over 100,000 active members by 1850. The 1851 census records 511,000 people in attendance at their chapels / places of worship on census Sunday. Here are details http://daves-little-blog.blogspot.com/search/label/Statistics
Posted By: Dave Price | April 7, 2011 10:34 PM
The book looks interesting, but there is one major caveat that doesn't seem to be addressed which I'm wondering if it is in the book.
Do Americans understand what revival is?
I know we think we do, and historically, what we have come to call "revivals" were little more than circus acts that got the crowds wound up.
Sure, bible studies at lunch...very nice.
Bible discussions with friends over tea and coffee, hell, even beers...very good. In fact, probably the best theological discussions I've ever had were over beers and chicken-wings.
But that isn't "revival" as the bible defines revival.
Revival has tangible results in the individuals.
Revival means, "a turning back towards..."
So a "revival" is people turning back towards G-d, which would imply a resurgence of the fruit of the Spirit being exemplified in ourselves, our communities, our nation.
We haven't ever had a revival like that in this nations history.
Sure, we have had movements to "do something" but who hasn't had a "movement" to do something.
But something isn't a revival.
Anyway, I would like to know if that is addressed in this book, or not.
btw: "social justice among American evangelicals," is not a revival either.
Posted By: Sheerahkahn | April 8, 2011 10:32 AM
Along the lines of Sheer's thoughts, revival requires change in radical, reverse direction ways, different thoughts and actions towards following God. We cannot claim revival if we are doing the same old thing with greater emotion.
As I observe American believers doing evangelism and church growth it is strongly cemented to it's current systemic behavior with huge amounts of money involved. No one wants to change where the money goes, so nothing will change. Jesus gave us the law of money - where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. American believers consume 75 - 85% of their "giving" to primarily buy goodies to bless themselves. This is all considered "godly" and propped up with bogus proof texts, just like the Pharisees did with their "corban" - dedicated to God. It will take an amazing revival to change these bad habits.
Posted By: Tim | April 8, 2011 7:47 PM
Tim is on to something. The way we change our relationship with money may be the indicator of revival.
Posted By: Fajita | April 9, 2011 8:17 AM
Sheerahkahn said: "I know we think we do, and historically, what we have come to call "revivals" were little more than circus acts that got the crowds wound up."
This is only partly true. Read Iain Murray's biography on Edwards or Read Dallimore's Two volume work on the life of George Whitefield and you will see that much of the revival of "The Great Awakening" was a movement of the Spirit that came out of repentance not spurred on by emotionalism but brought about by the Truth of God's Word penetrating the hearts of sinners. Many of these evangelists and pastors were accused of manipulating people into an emotional response. However, the type of sustainable moral and social change America went through in the late 1700's cannot be chalked up to mere emotional response. Emotionalism does not have long lasting affects on society, but Deep Biblical Truth understood, believed, and put into practice has a great impact on the individual and society.
I think that two definitions of revival in the history of America spring up around two individuals. Namely, the form of revival of Jonathan Edwards and that of Charles Finney. Here is a link below to a good article by Iain Murray on the difference theology makes on how one views revival.
http://www.the-highway.com/articleMar00.html
Revival in America will look totally different than the revivals experienced before. However, what we believe at the very core affects how we view or define "revival."
Posted By: Ross Kuester | April 12, 2011 7:12 AM
My studies in the history of the church in America and Europe suggest that three events are marked by the theology of Sovereign Grace or Calvinism as some are wont to call it. That theology produced the First and Second Great Awakenings and the launching of the Great Century of Missions (Kenneth Scott Latourette's title for a volume on the subject), and I found it to be a two part theology, that is, each doctrine was composed of two apparently contradictory truths which the human mind could not reconcile. This contradictory teaching set up a tension in the mind of the believer which enabled the individual to be balanced, flexible, creative, and magnetic or, in short, mature. It was one of the outstanding insights into the nature of biblical doctrines, explaining how they could grasp, excite, energize, thrill, inspire, motivate, challenge the mind, heart, and life to the utmost commitment. The intellectual depth of the Bible has seldom been grasped or even discerned in the past 2 centuries. Here is our greatest opportunity and challenge that will enable us to renew and advance the cause of Christ for the next 1000 generations.
Posted By: Dr. James Willingham | April 19, 2011 9:30 PM
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