Dr. Elijah J. F. Kim is Founder and President of Grain of Wheat College and Graduate School in the Philippines. He is also the President of Pathos Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of this foundation is to work for revival and awakening in America and the rest of the world. He is the overseer of A Grain of Wheat Christian Ministries in the Philippines. Dr. Kim served as the director of the Vitality Project of Emmanuel Gospel Center in Boston and is a former member of the Steering Committee of City Impact Roundtable, USA. He is the author of many books in English and other languages.

The Rise of the Global South is a very substantial volume, both in length and in content, it contains a wealth of information. In addition to the author’s writing the text contains graphs, tables, maps, and statistics that the author has drawn from a number of different sources. The research that was utilized in the writing of this book is quite extensive (the bibliography is a little over 28 pages long). In view of the scope of this book, this review will focus on some of the “big picture” themes that are found in it

The reader will find a significant amount of church history in this book, both European history and American history. Many well-known ministers are mentioned, people like John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, and D. L. Moody. In addition many renewal movements are mentioned, among them are, the Waldensians, the Methodists, and the Quakers. It should be noted that Europe and American did not both follow the exact same religious course, Dr. Kim notes the differences. The reader will also find information about specific denominations in the text. This data reveals that a number of mainline denominations have suffered significant losses in membership over the years.

The decline of the church at certain times has not always been due solely to weaknesses from within. Dr. Kim calls attention to various developments in the larger culture that have had negative effects on the church. He looks at the impact of urbanization, industrialization, and modernization. Though these things are not in and of themselves spiritual, or evil, they have at times had a negative impact on the faith of significant numbers of people.

Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The age of the Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys, A History of Evangelicalism, People, Movements and Ideas in the English-Speaking World I (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2003).

This is a splendid book that I found to be very rewarding reading. It is well thought out and it is presented in a way that makes for easy reading, yet challenges the reader to think and reflect on how the era covered in the book relates to today’s challenges in evangelicalism. Noll is able to cover the first three hundred years of English-speaking evangelicalism by capturing landmark events in such a way that readers will feel as if they were present in the shaping of these events. The book is divided into nine chapters, which are well integrated so that the book flows from one important event and/or leader to another.

The world of evangelicalism is not easy to define. Noll begins his book with an over view of the “Landscapes: Political, Ecclesiastical, Spiritual” that shaped the evangelical movement. By the time the reader reaches the third chapter, “Revival, 1734-1738” and the fourth chapter, “Revival, Fragmentation, Consolidation, 1738-1745” the reader understands why the revival became the centerpiece of the movement. Noll writes, “The evangelical revivals were unusual, however, in their frequency, their publicity and their function as a replacement for discarded aspects of traditional religion. They never, however, charted a simple course.” Noll captures the greatest challenge of today’s evangelical movement; how to replace the discarded aspects of traditional religion (revival is rarely practiced in mainstream religion, but is now rarely practiced in evangelical circles), yet not become the very thing (institutionalized religion) which the movement is attempting to replace.

Noll makes the point that, “Over time it became clear that for evangelicalism to take root, the longing for revival was more important than revival itself.” Through out the book Noll underscores the importance of this point. The preaching featured in the awakenings, “was a preaching aimed directly at popular affections, expecting life-changing results, emphasizing the message of divine grace as the God-given remedy for sin and often (though not always) dispensing with elaborate ratiocination.” Leaders into today’s evangelical movement should pay particular attention to this point. Rather than becoming preoccupied with doctrines, rules, prohibitions, and developing a “closed mind,” the movement needs to seek to appeal to people’s affections and help draw closer to Christ. In helping to explain the growth of the movement; Noll observes that, “evangelical Christianity coexisted with the Enlightenment.” The movement did not agree with all aspects of the Enlightenment; however, it was able to effectively dialogue with it. Noll does not shy away from critical reflection of the movement and its leaders. He notes that John Wesley was in many ways a tyrant, yet Wesley helped the evangelical movement to grow by expanding the role of laymen and to some degree challenged the stratified social order.