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Christian History Magazine—Issue 20: Charles Finney: American Revivalism is unavailable, but you can change that!

His peculiar revisions of New England Calvinism invited the label of “Pelagian” from colleagues. Charismatic, fiery preaching caused many to question the validity of any appeal to emotion. His leadership of Oberlin College, an institution of social reform, inspired accusations of being a radical. These controversial claims and much more will be uncovered and discussed in Christian History &...

and relied on reasoning: He said his task was to present the case for Christ as if a jury would then make a decision. Early in his career, Finney made it a point to criticize seminary education and scoffed at theology, but later he spent many years as a professor at Oberlin College and wrote two weighty volumes on systematic theology! Finney was a “Grahamite”—a follower of the popular health advocate Sylvester Graham, who taught that bad eating habits were as “sinful as drinking alchohol.” Oberlin