Four qualities of spiritual revival have recurred throught the centuries. Revivals are:
- Popular and populist
- Transformative, calling for conversions
- Reforming institutions
- Devotional – calling forth relationships of love
I’m grateful to Christian History magazine (episode 149) to codify these things and helping us to see that revival in those terms popped up not just among Protestants but at many points in medieval Christianity. It is, of course, exactly what we need today. And (see the two previous posts in this optimistic Advent season), perhaps it is happening.