Great Awakening: A History of the Revival of Religion in the Time of Edwards and Whitefield

Rating:
Summary: Excellent retelling of the Great Awakening
Review: I have read a number of works on revivals and this revival in particular. This is the one book on the subject that I have gone back to time and again. It is both scholarly thorough and devotionally helpful. As I read of the changes in the lives in the villagers of New England I became more and more impressed with how true revivals are such awesome and precious things.

This book is very helpful for our day as well. In describing the excesses of this revival (especially those that had to do with Davenport) and in the detailed accounts of unwanted side-phenomena, we see sad similarities to what has been experienced in some of our churches today. This book shows what a true revival looks like.

The writing is sometimes a little stilted (the book was first published in 1842), but this is a minor price to pay for all of the good information it brings to the serious reader. I certainly recommend it.