Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War

"This volume is offered as a 'new slant on the origins of the social gospel,' and so it is. Basing his study primarily on material gathered from newspapers, letters and religious and secular weeklies of the period, [Dr. Smith] contends that the heart of the social gospel was present in strong and explicit from in the undertakings of the revivalist of the years 1840-1855. The evangelists of this period played a vital role in preparing the way for the attack on slavery, poverty and greed. Thi...