Welsh Journals

The majority of the essays have been published previously, over the last thirty years. The chapters 'What is Revival?' and 'Why no Revival?' act as bookends for a series of more specific case studies. Although concentrating mainly on Wales, these do stray slightly further afield to include essays on John Davies's missionary work in Tahiti and Richard Baxter's ministry in Kidderminster. Amongst the essays which appear in print for the first time is that on Griffith Jones, Llanddowror. This deals with Griffith Jones's activities as a fluent and effective preacher, an aspect of his work which has frequently been eclipsed by his educational endeavours, but which led contemporaries to regard him as the harbinger of the Methodist Revival. Revival is, not surprisingly, the common theme which links all the essays in this collection. It is possible to identify certain recurring factors, such as the importance of powerful preaching and the tendency to turn to the Scriptures for inspiration and to locate appropriate terms of reference to describe the experience of conversion. Although the author perceives revival to be the work of God, he regards many of the factors which contribute to revivalism, such as preaching, to be human endeavours. It would seem, then, that it is possible for human efforts to contribute to the advent of revival, even if, in the author's view, revival can only be the result of divine influence. I would argue that there is perhaps a tendency in places to overstate the dire conditions which precede revival. Does revival necessarily occur when faith has become stagnant and moribund? Does not the inclusion of the chapter on Griffith Jones in itself contradict that assumption? This volume is an interesting attempt to examine the nature of religious revival, a subject which, despite receiving a great deal of attention in Welsh history, is still not properly understood. In the past nonconformist historians tended to write from the vantage point of success, charting the glorious progress of the rise of nonconformity as an inexorable march forward. At the end of the twentieth century, it is perhaps significant that Eifion Evans should choose to close this collection of studies with the question 'Why no Revival?' That is a question which, fortunately perhaps, lies beyond the scope of most historians! ERYNM. WHITE Aberystwyth Cwm AMAN. Golygwyd gan Hywel Teifi Edwards. Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul, 1996.Tt.382. £ 14.95 Dwy dudalen yn unig, cwyna un o'r cyfranwyr, gafodd ddyffryn Aman yn