An Endless Line of Splendor

Earle E. Cairns, renowned historian and writer on religion, explores revivals in the church from the Great Awakening to the present. In an enlightening narrative that begins with the Bible-centered Pietists of nineteenth-century Germany, Dr. Cairns unfolds the story of the workings of God's Spirit in renewing the church.

Cairns takes the reader on a historical pilgrimage that features candid accounts of such figures as Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, Charles H. Spurgeon, Dwight L. Moody, Charles Finney, Lyman Beecher, Francis Asbury, John and Charles Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Philipp Jakob Spener, and many others who have served as God's instruments in revitalizing the church.

The pilgrimage includes glimpses of John Wesley's field preaching, American camp meetings, college revivals in the early 1800s, Hans Hauge's revivalistic work in Norway, Francis Asbury's long treks on horseback, Dwight L. Moody's London meetings, the Jesus people of the 1960s, Billy Graham's early crusades, and many more stories of revival.

Cairns also looks at the fruits of revivalism-missions, social reform, the holiness movement and more. He examines the work of missionary and explorer David Livingstone, Salvation Army founder William Booth, temperance leader Frances Willard, the abolitionists of the Clapham Sect, and many others.

The Christ-centered theology that guided the revivals is discussed, and so are the hymns that gave poetic expression to that theology. And the author looks at the various methods used by the Spirit-led individuals who brought renewal.

Written with impeccable scholarship and engrossing style, An Endless Line of Splendor is an insightful study of the leaders of revival and the fruits of revival.



"". . . a valuable compendium of information regarding evangelical revivals and awakenings of the past 250 years.""
--J. Edwin Orr, President, Oxford Association for Research in Revival

""This book is the best one-volume presentation of the history and principles of revival I have read. All of us who pray for spiritual awakening will be inspired and helped by this scholarly volume.""
--Lewis Drummond, Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

""It was a fresh learning experience. I imagined what a wonderful thing it would be if all evangelists and revivalists in the world were able to read this work.""
--John Wesley White, Evangelist, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association


Earle E. Cairns (1910-2008) was for many years chairman of the history department at Wheaton College. An expert in the field of church history, Dr. Cairns has authored a number of books including Christianity Through the Centuries, God and Man in Time, and The Christian in Society. He served as consulting editor and contributor to The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church and was senior reviser of The Wycliffe Biographical Dictionary of the Church. Dr. Cairns holds the MA and PhD from the University of Nebraska.