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Michael McClymond, ed., Encyclopedia of Religious Revivals in America, 2 vols. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 2007. Pp. li + 1178. $225.00.
Reviewed by Douglas A. Sweeney, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Christian historian Michael McClymond is fast becoming the leading expert on revivals in America. In 2004, he published a volume of critical essays on revival with contributions from up-and-coming religious historians, Embodying the Spirit: New Perspectives on North America Revivalism (2004). Now he has added a massive compilation of primary documents and historiographical summaries of revivals and their participants in Canada and the U.S.
Volume one is comprised of 227 brief articles, ordered alphabetically, treating the history of Christian revival in North America. Written by 118 scholars, graced by 115 pictures, these articles deal with the people, events, practices, and themes that have shaped revivalism over nearly five centuries. McClymond himself offers an even-handed definition of terms such...