Editorial: The Paradoxes of Revival

Abstract

The five articles in this issue all relate in some way to the theme of revival movements in modern world Christianity. They form a selection of the papers given at the twenty-second meeting of the Yale–Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity, held at New College, University of Edinburgh, from 28 to 30 June 2012. The theme of the meeting was ‘Religious movements of renewal, revival, and revitalization in the history of missions and world Christianity’. Movements of renewal, revival and revitalisation have formed part of the ebb and flow of the history of the Christian church from its early centuries. As a religion of the Spirit, Christianity invites periodic internal critique from those of its adherents who feel that the dynamism of spiritual zeal has been suppressed by the defenders of good order, structure and time-honoured tradition. As an institution with a vision of the one people of God stretching down the centuries and across the continents, however, the church has often felt itself bound to channel, moderate and even defuse the headstrong and sometimes disruptive impulses of revivalists. Even revival leaders themselves cannot escape the demands of structure and tradition as they seek to conserve the fruits of their movement for the generations to come. Revival movements often present a paradoxical blend of the conservative and the radical. Preoccupied with the life of the Spirit and the pre-eminent demands of obedience to the gospel, they can often appear narrowly pietistic, indifferent to the wider social and political implications of the Christian message and wholly unimpressed by the agendas of Christian nationalists or anti-colonial radicals. And yet they have repeatedly proved to be the source of challenge to the established order. The Spirit falls on all flesh, without distinction of age, gender,