Primitive Methodists, Paulists, and Pentecostals, toward a historical typology of declines and decline of movement of revival

Abstract

This dissertation is an attempt to articulate a historical typology relating to the historical phenomena often called revivals. The specific focus of this study is the processes of such movements that could be characterised by the language of decline. Since the study of such movements is complicated by virtue of the metaphorical nature of the terms used to describe them, attention is paid first to identifying and explaining the nomenclature that has been used in the study of these movements. In order to root the search for a typology in historical reality, this study discusses three documented revival movements. These movements were separated by time, geography, culture, theology, and spirituality. From these movements, three local congregations were selected for analysis. The aim was not to do local history per se but to use local history as a trajectory by which to understand historical process. Through an examination of the histories of the representative expressions of the three movements, this study affirms the notion that the nature of historical process is characterised by profound complexity. At the same time, this study asserts that recognisable themes or patterns in history are present and identifiable, and that explanation of these patterns is best begun through examination of a group's most basic subsystems. Among the patterns that are recognisable is that of decline. Not only is this pattern recognisable, the sources of declines are also distinguishable. Most importantly, enough commonalty can be found in the identity, nature, strength, and conjuncture of the sources of declines to postulate a tentative typology both of periodic declines in a group's history and of final decline, the termination of its history.