Daniel Rowland and the Great Evangelical Awakening in Wales

by Eifion Evans

Daniel Rowland (1713 - 1790) was one of the foremost leaders of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist revival in the early 19th century along with Howell Harris and William Williams. For most of his life he served as curate in the parishes of Nantcwnlle and Llangeitho, Ceredigion. He was renowned as a preacher and made Llangeitho memorable as a centre of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales. The Anglican Church authorities deprived him of his Nantcwnlle curacy in 1763, an action which was unpopular with parishioners. Following this, he established a Methodist cause in Llangeitho. His early preaching was known to be frightening as he gave much attention to God's judgment in his sermons. But as he matured in his ministry he gave more emphasis on the saving work of Jesus on the cross. His theology and character was seen as more consistent and stable than that of his counterpart Howel Harris during the revival. This is a new retypeset edition.

Genres: Biography

410 pages, Hardcover

Published May 1, 2023

Reviews

[John Funnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a history we have in Wales

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s another offering in the long line of biographies of Christian heroes by Banner of Truth of men who are, sadly, far too little known. They seem to especially mine Welsh preachers, not because Wales is better than anyplace else, but because of the landmark revival experienced there. The Great Evangelical Awakening there had less of the excesses of some revivals, which, perhaps, partially corresponds to the main players in it. They were dedicated, magnetic while maintaining humility, doctrinally consistent, and zealous. In what stands out from the pack, their zealousness was fully for Christ rather than an unholy mixture of carrying the Gospel and self promotion. Daniel Rowland is a good fit in this string of biographies.

Eifion Evans has written previously on Revival as it was clearly his niche. The full title is “Daniel Rowland and the Great Evangelical Awakening in Wales.” In my opinion, this book succeeds more on the history than on pure biography of Rowland. I suspect a lack of source materials is the culprit. The trail of humble men doesn’t often lead back to themselves.

Still, Rowland was an incredible man worthy of our revisiting his life. He was, as you will see in this biography, far more stable than Howel Harris. In my view, Rowland was on the right side of the divide with Harris.

There’s plenty of exciting revival described here. To the author’s credit, the bumps along the way were given too. The division that popped up didn’t diminish the beauty of the revival as I read as it only reminded me that we have a wickedly diligent enemy that probably hates revival as much as anything. You could also see the enemy could not ultimately prevail.

Beautiful book. Beautiful cover. Beautiful read. What more could you want?

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

[David Westerveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this book. There were a couple of minor quibbles though. One was with the (in my opinion) excessive use of sermon excerpts. I think there is some place for that in a biography of this sort, but overall I found at some places it felt like I was reading a book of sermons which isn't quite what one expects when picking up a biography.

There were also times when this a bit too hagiographic and dismissive of Rowland's possible character flaws. I would have also enjoyed learning a bit more about his personal life as opposed to mostly just his public ministry and the work of the awakening. Perhaps there is just not enough source material for a biography like that, but I would have loved to see a bit more of that.

I learned some lessons from this book that I was not expecting to learn:
- It would appear that pentecostal expressions are quite compatible with Calvinism
- The Great Awakening seems to happened in a large part as people when outside of (and sometimes even in opposition to) existing church structures. I think there are some great lessons to be gleaned here around having flexibility built into church authority structures and also the importance of starting new things or doing those things that don't fit in strictly with existing church organizational structure if they are what is best for the people of God
- Part of the reason the Great Awakening was able to succeed outside of normal church organization al structures was due to the seriousness with which it took man's relationship with God. If you have a heartfelt and serious relationship with Jesus much of what we consider "necessary" to a well run church life, might be trying to make up for missing experience with the person of God.
- Life is a messy thing and revival (which brings new life) is going to be messy too.