Protestant Evangelical Awakening

This book studies the early history of the Protestant revival movements of the eighteenth century from a European as well as Anglo-American perspective. Professor Ward examines the crisis in the Protestant world beyond that established and protected by the Westphalia treaties, and its impact upon the morale of Protestant communities which enjoyed diplomatic guarantees or other forms of public protection. He traces the widespread outbreak of forms of revival to the emergence of a common Protestant mind, shaped by the appreciation of common problems. The religious effects of widespread emigration produced by persecution, war and distress are traced, and the chronology of the familiar revivals of the West is related to the crises of Eastern revival. The Protestant Evangelical Awakening is based on archival and published resources extending from Eastern Europe to the American colonies, and marks a major contribution to our understanding of the religious history of both continents.

"...this book embodies scholarship of the very highest calibre and the historical narrative is presented in all its detail." American Studies, "This account of the Great Awakening is, in my judgement, a magisterial work. Its main achievement is that it provides an integrated account of the Great Awakening for the first time. In particular, by careful study and exposition of the links between continental pietism and North Atlantic revivalism, Professor Ward is able to show that the well-known meeting between the Wesleys and a group of Moravian Brethren while on ship to America, whilst in one sense an accident, was not some chance encounter between two different religious cultures, but a natural (and almost inevitable?) meeting....In short I regard this as one of the most significant books written on eighteenth-century religion. It will be a standard work of reference for years to come." David M. Thompson, University of Cambridge, "Ward's book is the only piece of scholarship, certainly in English and possibly in German, that examines the revival with any thoroughness in its international context. In this sense it is original in its conception; and as a work of reference, it meets a real need." Frederick Dreyer, Canadian Journal of History, "...consistently offers rich detail and sophisticated insight....Breadth, detail, exemplary scholarship, and especially discernment make The Protestant Evangelical Awakening a glowing achievement....The result is required reading for colonialists and religious historians...." Jon Butler, Journal of American History, "The Protestant Evangelical Awakening goes well beyond a colonial or Anglo-American examination of the mid-eighteenth century revivals by providing an authoritative overview of the rise of Protestant evangelicalism from the easternmost expanses of Europe to the frontiers of the American wilderness." Church History