Unit information: Revivals and Revivalism Past and Present in 2014/15

Unit name	Revivals and Revivalism Past and Present
Unit code	THRSM0047
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Liveley
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Religion and Theology
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

College Code: C42004 College Unit Director: Nigel Scotland

The unit aims to:

1. enable students to understand the nature of religious revivals;

2. create awareness of the psychological and auto-suggestive techniques used by some revivalists;

3. critically evaluate religious phenomena associated with revivalism;

4. assess the impact of revivals and revivalism on American and British history, society and culture.

The unit examines a recurring theme in religion, that of Revival and Revivalism. There is a particular focus on its historical origins in America, but the module will also consider the phenomenon more widely. It begins with an examination of the ways in which historians have sought to identify and define revival. This is followed by a consideration of the Great Awakening at Northampton, Massachusetts under Jonathan Edwards.

Subsequent sessions cover itinerant revivalists such as George Whitefield and William Tennent, and the rise of professional evangelism under Charles Finney and Dwight L Moody. This leads into a discussion of the emergence of Pentecostalism and the development of mass evangelism under Billy Graham, televangelism and militant fundamentalism.

Throughout attention will be paid to the techniques employed by revivalists including the use of music, public decision, rhetoric and other methods of persuasion.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of the unit students should be able to:

• identify the social and political contexts in which revivals often occur;

• explain the key figures and seminal texts relating to American revival and revivalism;

• recognise and articulate the continuity between earlier revivals and contemporary revivalism;

• engage both critically and empathetically in reflection on revivalist religion.

Teaching Information

Nine two-hour lectures and one two-hour seminar over a ten-week period

Assessment Information

Formative assessment will be through preparation for, and participation in, class discussions and seminars.

Summative assessment will be through one essay of 6000 words (100%).

Reading and References

Carwardine, R, Trans-Atlantic Revivalism: Popular Evangelism in Britain and America, (London, Greenwood Press, 1978; New Ed. Carlisle: Paternoster, 2008)

Edwards, J., On Revival, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991)

Kaye, W.K., Apostolic Networks in Britain (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2007)

Murray, I.H., Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1850, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1994)

Noll, M., The Old Religion in a New World, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002)

Scotland N.A.D., Apostles of the Spirit and Fire (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2009)