≡
  • Home
  • Revival Histories
  • Revival Heroes
  • Revival Resources
  • Restoration
  • Media
    • Audio
    • Video
  • Shop
  • Contact

Evangelical Revivals

  • Revival Timelines
  • General
  • Pre-1700
  • 1725 on
  • 1792 on
  • 1830 on
  • 1857 0n
  • 1880 on
  • 1900 on
  • 20th Century
  • 21st Century

Pentecostal Revivals

  • General Introduction
  • American
  • South American
  • British
  • European

Neo-Pentecostal Revivals

  • General Introduction
  • Healing Revival 1947-1958
  • Latter Rain Revival
  • Charismatic Movement
  • Third Wave Revival
  • New Apostolic Reformation

33-1500

Peter Waldo

Peter Waldo
and others

16th Century

Martin Luther

Martin Luther
and others

17th Century

George Fox

George Fox
and others

18th Century

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards
and others

19th Century

Charles Finney

Charles Finney
and others

20th Century

Evan Roberts

Evan Roberts
and others

21st Century

Daniel Kolenda

Daniel Kolenda
and others

For Speakers

  • Revival Anecdotes
  • Revival Definitions
  • Revival Quotes
  • Revival Preaching

For Researchers

  • Revival Sermons
  • Study Papers
  • Newsletter Articles

For Revival Seekers

  • Personal Revival
  • Local Church Revival
  • Prayer for Revival
  • Revival Tips from History

The Restoration of the Church

  • Introduction to Restoration
  • The Biblical Basis for Restoration
  • The Need for Restoration
  • Restoration before the Reformation
  • The Reformation
  • Restoration from Reformation to end 19th Century
  • Restoration in 20th Century to today
  • Restoration the only basis for Unity

Pre-1700 Revivals

Articles

  • Pre-1700 Revivals
  • Revivals in the Second Century
  • Puritans and Revival Christianity
  • Revival: The Puritan Hope
  • Revival at Stewarton and Kirk of Shotts
  • Revivals until the Reformation
  • Revival at Shotts 1630
  • Ulster Revival 1623
  • Revivals in Wales 1649-1794

 

For Further Research

≡

Autobiography by George Fox

Autobiography by George Fox

Click image for information and download

Girolamo Savonarola by E. L. S. Horsburgh

irolamo Savonarola by E. L. S. Horsburgh

Click image for information and download

irolamo Savonarola by E. L. S. Horsburgh

Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede

Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede

Click image for information and download

Autobiography by Madame Guyon

Autobiography by Madame Guyon

Click image for information and download

The History of the Kirk of Scotland by Vol 1 by David Calderwood

The History of the Kirk of Scotland by Vol 1 by David Calderwood

Click on image for information and download
There are 8 separate volumes in this set

John Knox
John Knox

In studying the broad sweep of revival histories it is not difficult to concur with the eighteenth-century evangelicals’ view that ‘revival is the engine of history,’ the most powerful gift of God for the expansion of His church and for the renovation or reform of human society.

To quote Jonathan Edwards’, the first ‘theologian of revival,’ “Indeed, it is true to say that seasons of revival have always been the major means that God has employed to advance His cause and the cause of the church in the world."

"Though there be a more constant influence of God's Spirit always, in some degree, attending His ordinances, yet the way in which the greatest things have been done towards carrying on this work, always has been by remarkable effusions of the Spirit at special seasons of mercy..."

Students of revival today agree with these views but their conclusions are similarly based on historical records from the post-reformation period through to modern times. But what about the period between the first and the seventeenth century? Revival records before the Reformation appear scant and rare, not having the same impact and extensive influence as their later counterparts.

This scarcity of material may easily be explained. During the first four centuries the church was very often under siege from Roman persecutors and much Christian literature was hidden, lost or destroyed. After this the church entered what has become known as the Dark Ages for a thousand years, until the dawning of the light which led to the Reformation. There had been a widening rift between the Spirit-filled religion of Jesus and an alternative Christianity which married various philosophies and pagan ideas to a ritualistic and clergy-dominated organisation. The spiritual fire simply went out!

Nevertheless, during this dark period there were ‘seasons of refreshing’ which occasionally fanned the embers of authentic Christianity. Though literature is in short supply there is sufficient data in the writings of the early church Fathers suggesting there were significant moves of God in the first five centuries, details of which can be found in the ‘Pensketches’ section of this site. There are occasional references to outpourings of the Spirit during the Dark Ages and the literature becomes more common as the light began to dawn in the 16th century. We plan to put much of this later material on the site shortly.

Revival Library