Charles Finney
Charles Finney was an American Presbyterian minister and revivalist preacher who became the most influential figure of the Second Great Awakening in the early nineteenth century.
His emotional revival meetings and innovative techniques—the "anxious bench" for seekers, protracted meetings lasting days, allowing women to pray publicly—shaped American evangelical Christianity.
He later served as president of Oberlin College, championing abolitionism and coeducation.
- Second Great AwakeningAntebellum Protestant revival movement
- camp meetingsOutdoor Protestant worship gatherings
- tent revivalsItinerant evangelical gatherings under canvas
- free willAutonomous choice capacity
- altar callsPublic faith commitment requests
abolitionism · moral reform · sanctification · 19th-century America · fire and brimstone · perfectionism · temperance movement · evangelicalism · repentance · spiritual awakening · conversion experiences · sinners · born again · social justice · justification · prayer meetings · education reform · reform
- Christian AuthorsC.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, John Milton, Blaise Pascal
- evangelistsevangelist, evangelists, missionary, revivalist, revivalists
- preachersevangelist, preacher, minister, revivalist, parson
- reformersreformers, reformer, social reformers, social reformer, political reformer
- TheologiansBarth, Merton, Edwards, Newman, Augustine
- American RevivalsSecond Great Awakening, revivals, camp meetings, evangelicalism, conversion experience