Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts. By David Bebbington. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. vi + 307 pp. $110.00 cloth.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts . By David Bebbington . Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2012. vi + 307 pp. $110.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesVictorian Religious Revivals dwells on stories of piety in small places. David Bebbington situates this study of revivals not in the booming, bustling New Yorks and Manchesters of the Victorian era but instead in its frontier outposts and country towns, its fishing villages and mining camps, scattered throughout England, Scotland, Canada, the United States, and Australia. Even the largest of his seven revival settings did not number more than 10,000 souls, a size that nurtured close-knit communities built on face-to-face relationships. The traditional, local awakenings of the early modern era continued deep into the nineteenth century in such spots on the map. It would take a long time before their religious ways fell under the influence of the revival practices emerging in Victorian cities, strategically orchestrated affairs--so restrained and respectable, so theologically lax and blandly interdenominational--tailored to suit the preferences of local businessmen who sponsored them.Bebbington finds that the enduring, small-place revival culture exhibited common features throughout the anglophone world. Awakenings everywhere evoked a staunch evangelicalism, a reliance on the Bible, a summons to conversion, and a call to activism. What differentiated them was, in the main, denominational legacy. Like their coreligionists in earlier centuries, Presbyterians preferred their revivals orderly, their congregants composed, their conversions gradual, their theology Calvinist, and their ministers firmly in charge. By contrast, Victorian Methodists, following the preferences of their forerunners, liked them hot: assisted by their Arminian bent, uninhibited self-expression and sudden conversions were encouraged, often by a leadership of lay men and women. Economic circumstances played little role in precipitating any seasons of awakening, but demographic, social, and ritual factors figured prominently in the patterns of many. Intimacies enhanced by shared occupations--especially among groups at high risk for sudden death such as fishermen and miners--made communities revival-prone. Sacramental events such as baptisms and communion services as well as sudden excitement about foreign missions also might heighten spiritual engagement. As in eighteenth century, revival conversions ran strongest among young people and within the families of church members.But what unifies these revivals is not what really interests Bebbington. In fact, he all but puts a pox on those who have bent their shoulders to turning out "religion and society interpretations." Whether propounding a frontier thesis, a social control thesis, or a democratization thesis, all "religion and society" scholars are "driven by a desire to make the study of revival relate to mainstream social history. …