Scarecrow Press The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century: 2nd Ed.: 1 (Studies in Evangelicalism)

This new edition expands and updates the only general interpretation of the rise and influence of perfectionist revivalism in America and Europe. Fifteen years of expanding research on the holiness movement reinforce this volume's continuing seminal value to cultural and social research. The new concluding essay describes the history of the revival through the turn of the century. This book expands our understanding of the fragmentation and coalescence of American religion by analyzing the factors which created numerous new holiness denominations. Dieter also outlines the historical and theological factors that separate this largely Wesleyan and Methodist wing of evangelicalism from the fundamentalism of Reformed evangelicals. The identification of such nuances will prove especially helpful to those struggling with the extreme diversity in American religion, especially in evangelicalism. For students and scholars of American religious movements as well as students of the feminist, temperance, abolitionist, and populist movements in American society. Review ...this volume stretches out hands to the centuries either side, and crosses the divides of cultures and continents to offer a study as pertinent for now as for those curious about yesteryear...readably chronicled in some detail, copiously referenced; yet the sense of the larger story is always retained...--Methodist Recorder About the Author Melvin E. Dieter is Professor Emeritus of church history and historical theology at Asbury Theological Seminary.