Paul Keith Conkin

This is a good read on a very little known chapter in American history of Christian revivals. The author notes that this American revival has it's roots in the outdoor communions celebrated in Scotland and Ulster with particular reference to the Cambuslang revival, which the Cane Ridge revival seemed to have mimicked.

The author discussion the success in ministers during the revivals converting black, the controversies between ministers regarding how a revival ought to and ought not to be conducted; the excitements and reactions in consequence of the preaching and the perceived presence of God, disagreements regarding how a minister ought to conduct his preaching, disputes between the "New Light" and the more traditional orthodoxy of the Presbyterian Church on religious practice and doctrine; the subject of doctrine being the most interesting to me.

There is much in here to digest in only 177 pages but I think it is an important read for anyone interested in the subject of revivals.… (altro)

Persons interested in the Cane Ridge Revival will surely find this to be a helpful book. The author does an excellent job discussing the background, events, people and places leading up to and during the great revival in Bourbon County, Kentucky in the early 19th century.

In addition to aiding my understanding of the Revival, the author provides excellent analysis of causes of divisions in the American Presbyterian church in the late 18th and early 19th century.

I found the book to be very readable and is enhanced with a nice index.… (altro)