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REVIVALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM by Timothy L. Smith

REVIVALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM

By

Publisher: Abingdon

This volume is offered as a ""new slant on the origins of the social gospel"", and so it is. In these days we are likely to hear that revivalism neglects the social gospel, and in many ways the charge is true. But Dr. Smith would here remind us that if this is so modern revivalism is false to its mid-nineteenth century origins in America. Basing his study primarily on material gathered from newspapers, letters and religious and secular weeklies of the period, he contends that the heart of the social gospel was present in strong and explicit from in the undertakings of the revivalist of the years 1840-55. The evangelists of this period played a vital role in preparing the way for the attack on slavery, poverty and greed. This is a real contribution to American religious history, and both general readers and scholars will find it of great interest. Dr. Smith is pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Boulder, Colorado.