Revivalists: Marketing the Gospel in English Canada, 1884-1957

by Kevin Kee

The history of religious change has been largely devoted to study of the churches. Revivalists focuses on evangelists, singling out several significant entrepreneurs - Hugh Crossley and John Hunter, active from 1880 to 1910; Oswald J. Smith, who built his independent Toronto church into a popular evangelistic emporium; Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group, who appealed to the upper classes in the 1930s; and Charles Templeton, who enjoyed two careers as a revivalist. Kee shows that by adjusting their methods to the cultural forms of the day, these evangelists contributed to the vitality of Canadian Protestantism.

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 26, 2006

Reviews

[Doug Adamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative, well-researched, and, best of all, well-written. At times made me forget I was reading a University-published historical study. Seemed sympathetic but critical towards his subjects, their message, and their methods. His epilogue made an attempt to show how the contemporary church has continued on the path set by the earlier Revivalists.