Revivalism is an approach to religion that emphasizes individual religious experience rather than church doctrines. In the United States, revivalism has been associated with frontier camp meetings, outdoor religious services, and fervent, emotional forms of preaching.
Periods of revivalism occurred in Europe among German Pietists and English Methodists during the 1700’s (see Protestantism (Pietism) . The first major revival movement in the United States was the Great Awakening, which began in the 1730’s. This movement took place primarily within Congregational and Presbyterian denominations along the East Coast (see Great Awakening ). A second Great Awakening occurred from about 1790 to about 1820. During the mid-1800’s, the Baptists and Methodists were the chief denominations that used revivalistic methods. The leading revivalists of this period included Peter Cartwright and Charles G. Finney.
During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, many preachers, including Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday, brought frontier revivalism to growing U.S. cities. In the late 1900’s, the revivalist tradition was carried on by such preachers as Billy Graham and by such organizations as the men’s group Promise Keepers.
