In This Issue: "Revival"

The issue of Liturgy entitled “Revival,” guest-edited by Melanie Ross, explores exactly what Ross’s “Introduction” to the issue has to say in the following excerpt. The essays explore the meaning of revival in the Christian experience in all the forms we have seen or heard about. Some of the revivals described by the contributors give the history of important movements of the Holy Spirit; others are mysterious and spontaneous contemporary events that touch the lives even of people who had no prior yearning to be revived or for whom revival meant a fusion of faith and political life. –– Melinda Quivik

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Revival is a charged word in the Christian lexicon. It evokes visions of new life, renewal, the
power of the Holy Spirit, and the restoration of hope. For some readers, the word calls to mind
historical figures like George Whitefield and John Wesley, who helped spark the First Great
Awakening, or Charles Finney, who employed controversial “new measures” to spread the gospel message during the Second Great Awakening 100 years later. Finney’s methods paved the way for D.L. Moody’s urban revivals in the late nineteenth century, and the more flamboyant campaigns of Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson in the twentieth. For Christians in the
Pentecostal tradition, revival may be synonymous with miraculous signs and wonders, like those
seen during the Azusa Street Revival of 1906. Among evangelicals, the word “revival” remains
closely associated with the most successful and beloved evangelist of the postwar era: Billy
Graham. And of course, the Spirit of God continues to pour out lavishly beyond the borders
of the Anglosphere, from Central and South America to Africa, Asia, and beyond.

Other readers, however, may have little or no emotional resonance with tent meetings, sawdust
trails, gospel hymns, or altar calls. Zoe, a Gen-Z Christian, observes that many American young
people under the age of twenty-five have never experienced a revival firsthand: “I think there
is a generational gap between people who have seen ‘revival’ and those of us who have no
personal experience with this sort of movement or concept. Personally, the word revival doesn’t
mean anything to me—it seems like a fictional term. It feels like a term older Christians use
for whatever they see fit.” This generational divide might help explain why Zoe and her peers
were particularly captivated by the events of February 2023, when a routine fifty-minute chapel
service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, turned into a sixteen-day event that captured
the attention of Christians around the world. Reflecting on the experience, Kevin Brown, pres-
ident of Asbury University, suggested that “Gen Z’s evident hunger for something unvarnished
and genuine, is a sign of hope for the future of Christianity, its institutions, and the church.”

Roman Catholic youth are also experiencing revival in new and exciting ways. In 2024, the
Blessed Sacrament crisscrossed the United States on four separate pilgrimage routes, culminating
in 60,000 Catholics gathering in Indianapolis for Eucharistic worship and communion. The
pilgrimage and congress concluded the three-year National Eucharistic Revival, which was ini-
tiated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to rekindle Eucharistic faith. Some leaders
speculate that “this generation of seminarians will be known as the ‘Eucharistic Revival’ priests,
similar to how previous generations have been connected to inspiring popes who reigned during
their formative years.”

This issue of Liturgy celebrates revival in all its forms, and I am grateful to each contributor
for the unique personal and disciplinary perspectives they bring to the subject.

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Melanie C. Ross is associate professor of liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Worship, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Ross, M.C. “Introduction: Revival,” Liturgy 40, nos. 3–4 (2025): 1–3.