Ethan's Reviews > Answered by Fire : The Cane Ridge Revival Reconsidered

The story often is told: “the Restoration Movement began in the 1820s with Thomas and Alexander Campbell and their theological shift away from Presbyterianism toward a reformation…”

And if this is the framework in which the Restoration Movement’s origins is framed, much has already been lost.

In Answered by Fire: The Cane Ridge Revival Reconsidered, a consortium of scholars associated with churches of Christ explore the Cane Ridge Revival of 1801: what it was, what it came from, who was involved, what effects it had, and the move away from such things and why. They consider not just the major players but also how Black people participated and women exhorted. They also consider what its legacy might mean for us today. The appendix provides primary and secondary sources for the Cane Ridge Revival.

What was the Cane Ridge revival? For years Presbyterians would occasionally hold large gatherings for communion, and it seems that Cane Ridge, Kentucky, was the meeting place for such a gathering in 1801. Some previous experiences had primed Cane Ridge to become what it was. An exceedingly large number in the tens of thousands gathered at Cane Ridge, and there seemed to be an outpouring of the Spirit on people in various ways: people got the jerks, had a holy laugh, would fall down as if dead and arise converted to Jesus. This was happening among some who were already somewhat religious but also among deists and those who had no religion. While it was ostensibly a Presbyterian gathering, the spirit involved was quite ecumenical: Methodist and Baptist preachers were proclaiming the gospel, and all would share in communion together.

The “pastor” of the church in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, was a man named Barton Stone, and the experience of Cane Ridge would never leave him. His goal of an undenominated movement toward unity among Christians was motivated by his Cane Ridge experience. He would never discount the work of the Spirit on account of what he saw at Cane Ridge.

In the 1830s Stone’s “Christian” movement would merge with the Campbell “Disciples” movement, for they both maintained similar aspirations. Campbell brought a more systematic concept of restoration, but also one far more entranced with Baconian rationalism, and thus did not find much room for the Spirit and His working, and looked upon such things with great skepticism. Thus it was possible for a movement which can count as part of its origins one of the most profound revival experiences in American history, sometimes called “America’s Pentecost,” to become so hyper-rationalist that it uniquely taught and emphasized the idea the Spirit only works in and through the Scriptures.

So there is a lot members of churches of Christ can gain from considering the Cane Ridge Revival, Barton Stone’s role in it, how it shaped Stone and his strand of the movement, and why our forebears so thoroughly turned away from any seeming manifestation of the Spirit among His people. We can rightly critique some excesses which can attend to “spiritual enthusiasm,” but there is also much that can be critiqued in quenching the Spirit in the name of upholding a rationalist system imposed upon the text and the faith.