What We're Reading
- God and Race in American Politics: A Short History
by Mark A. Noll - It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust
by Elizabeth Bettina - Tradition: Concept and Claim
by Josef Pieper
Our Blogroll
« Evangelicalism's Hidden Liturgical and Confessional Past | Main | Bombshell Theory: Israeli Scholar Who Questions Essenes' Existence Doesn't Exist »
First Comes Panic, Then Comes Revival?
'Event of the century' offers hope during depression.
If you're not familiar with what renowned Harvard historian Perry Miller termed the "event of the century," now is the time. We're talking about the 19th century, but we're not talking about the Civil War. We're talking about the nationwide revivals of 1857 and 1858. Kathryn Long of Wheaton College notes that historians have largely ignored these revivals, caught between the Second Great Awakening before 1835 and the Civil War, which broke out in 1861.
Early recollections of the revival traced its origins to a lunch-hour prayer meeting held at North Dutch Church in Manhattan, just a five-minute walk from Wall Street. Former businessman turned missionary Jeremiah Calvin Lanphier hosted the sparsely attended first meeting on September 23, 1857. Yet week by week the gathering grew, spawning copycat prayer meetings around New York City. Within six months, businessmen across the country met during their lunch hours to pray that God would work among them in a special way.
What led these businessmen to devote their lunch hours to prayer? Long describes the buildup to the Panic of 1857. "A financial crisis had been brewing through the boom years of the 1850s, a period when Americans had indulged in a 'national predilection for speculations of all sorts,' including get-rich-quick schemes involving commodities, securities, mortgages, and above all, land speculation," Long writes in Revival of 1857-58, published by Oxford in 1998. Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company's New York branch collapsed in August. When banks began demand payment on outstanding loans, panic spread. "Money became tighter, distrust spread, financial uncertainty grew throughout September, and rural banks and city businesses began to fail." While the U.S. economy had suffered other downturns, the Panic of 1857 devastated American families of every class in every state.
Yet the remarkable events of 1857 and 1858 left behind a lasting legacy. Evangelist D.L. Moody, who turned 21 in 1858, longed to relive the events of his youth. "Moody's later evangelistic 'innovations' were in large part systematic recreations of techniques from the prewar spiritual awakening, refined through years of practice with the YMCA," Long writes. Denominations welcomed thousands of new members. Participants evangelized soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Sunday schools blossomed. Anna Warner wrote a new song for these children that would last longer than memory of the revivals.
"Jesus loves me, this I know;
For the Bible tells me so:
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong."
Though written for children, the message sustains Christians of any age during any crisis.
recent posts
Archives
March 2010February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Comments
Kudos to Collin Hansen for highlighting this 'overlapping' of economic and national disturbances and a massive seeking of the Lord. The list of examples can be lengthened considerably. I have found these also:
1. A wave of repentance by ministers and people in Scotland in 1596 in the face of rumors of a second attempted Spanish Armada.
2. Startling examples of awakening in Ulster and Scotland in the 1630's in the face of the oppressive religious policies of King Charles.
3. Colonial Massachusetts and Connecticut were under direct threat of attack from the west in the era of the French and Indian wars when the Great Awakening dawned in the 1730's. At the same time, Georgia and the Carolinas were very much in fear of Spanish invasion from Florida.
One could try to prove too much by this overlap. For one thing there have been national and economic crises for which there was no accompanying wave of spiritual interest. There have also been periods of heightened spiritual awareness (such as the 1950's) for which there may have been no accompanying national or economic crisis (unless we count the 'Cold War'). Conversely, I lived through the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, but do not recall that it spurred a national awakening.
There is also the intriguing question of how this equation is potentially altered in now-pluralistic Western Societies. The examples we draw from the past of the 'overlap' of economic / security concerns with spiritual concerns all took place when our Western societies were at least nominally Christian. Some kind of an argument can be made that revival and awakening presupposes a prior familiarity with the Christian faith, even a Christian faith not warmly embraced and practiced. How does this apply in a pluralistic or multi-religious society? This needs further thought.
Collin, since you have raised the issue, please pursue it further!
Ken Stewart, Covenant College
Posted By: Ken Stewart | March 18, 2009 11:17 AM
Collin
Just discovered your blog and am enjoying it thoroughly. By the way, one of my fellow teachers recently finished your book "Young, Restless, and Reformed." I'm looking forward to starting it myself as soon as he gets it to me!
Just recently I've developed a blog of my own. It is designed primarily for history teachers at the secondary and post-secondary level who are Christians. The address of the blog is www.jesusandclio.blogspot.com. So far, I seem to have been doing most of the talking. I would welcome your wisdom along with that of your readers as we engage in issues concerning educators and historians who want to glorify God in our classrooms by solid scholarship and depth of commitment to Christ.
Chris Bryans
Community Christian School
Brevard Community College
Melbourne, FL
Posted By: Christopher L. Bryans | March 22, 2009 7:52 PM
We republished the only first hand historical account of the revival recently. It is available at
www.noonprayer.com
Soon we will be rereleasing it with many additional chapters written by modern day authors and some New York City leaders.
Jeremy Story
National President
www.campusrenewal.org
(And a fellow NYC Manhattanite)
Posted By: Jeremy Story | March 23, 2009 11:39 AM