Revival in the City: The Impact of American Evangelists in Canada, 1884–1914 (review)

Between 1884 and the First World War, several American evangelists travelled across the border to hold revivals in Canadian cities. These campaigns are the subject of Eric Crouse's lively new study, Revival in the City. Crouse argues that American revivals, with their populist approach and conservative evangelical message, were immensely popular in English Canada during this era, particularly among the working classes. While visiting American evangelists initially drew wide support from Canadian Protestant leaders and the secular media, that support began to wane in the 1900s. By 1914, American revivalism had largely ended in Canada, eclipsed by the rise of secularization and the growing criticism of conservative evangelicalism.

Drawing on reports in secular and denominational newspapers, Crouse examines the Canadian revival campaigns of five well-known American evangelists between the 1880s and 1911. Although they had varying rates of success, these revivalists shared a conservative evangelical perspective and a willingness to engage popular culture. The arrival of Dwight L. Moody in Toronto in 1884 marked the beginning of this era of revivalism. With his innovative use of popular culture, and his 'preaching of uncomplicated biblical truths' (46), Moody drew widespread support from the Protestant community, the press, and ordinary Canadians. While Moody set the stage for a surge of revivalism in Canada, his popularity was no guarantee of success for those who followed. As Crouse notes, co-evangelists Sam Jones and Sam Small experienced limited success with their Toronto campaigns of 1886–7. Jones and Small faltered because of their sensationalism, their strained relationship with the press and labour, and their weak salvation message. According to Crouse, American revivalists who preached a 'traditional evangelical message' (79), such as Reuben Torrey, drew the most support in Canada. Despite his wide appeal among the working classes, Torrey met with some disapproval in Protestant circles. This disapproval was even more evident in responses to the revivals held by J. Wilbur Chapman and his team of evangelists between 1907 and 1911. Reflecting their increasingly critical attitude towards conservative evangelicalism, Canadian Protestant leaders gradually withdrew their support from American revivalists, precipitating the end of this era of 'revival mania' in Canada.

Revival in the City makes a significant contribution to the historiography of evangelicalism in North America. The study of national religious patterns and traditions is and will remain important, but more attention must be paid to patterns and traditions that crossed national borders. Crouse rightly argues that with respect to religion, the Canada-US border was indeed highly permeable. He also adds to debates about the secularization thesis in Canada. Proponents of the thesis have argued that the clergy contributed to secularization by too readily accommodating popular culture. Although he does not dispute the idea of secularization, Crouse challenges the presumed link between popular culture and religious decline. He points out that popular culture methods did little to dilute the salvation message offered by American revivalists. In suggesting that American revivalism appealed especially to the working classes, Crouse adds to the growing scholarship on class and religion in North America. He joins other scholars in arguing that the working classes were alienated from the churches, but not from religion. While Crouse suggests that evangelists masculinized their message in order to appeal to working-class men, the intersections between class and gender could be further developed. Working-class men figure prominently in Revival in the City, but we are left wondering about other groups, such as working-class women and middle-class men. Throughout the text, Crouse argues that the working classes were attracted to the 'simple' (40) preaching of American evangelists. Since he relies mainly on church and secular papers, Crouse is more convincing when discussing the rhetoric of revival than the motivations of the revival participants themselves.

Crouse's richly detailed study provides an important lens on American revivalism in Canada at the turn of the twentieth century. It unravels the...