Life of Charles G. Finney

Charles Grandison Finney was not supposed to become a preacher. A young lawyer in upstate New York, he walked into a church one evening in 1821 expecting nothing, and walked out transformed. What followed was the most explosive religious movement in nineteenth-century America. As the architect of the Second Great Awakening, Finney pioneered revival techniques that emphasized personal experience over doctrinal rote, turning religious conviction into a visceral, emotional phenomenon that swept across towns and colleges. His meetings attracted thousands, his presence alone enough to send congregations into weeping, trembling fits of spiritual crisis. Yet Finney was no simple evangelist. His theology frustrated orthodox Presbyterians and Baptists alike: he championed entire sanctification, the possibility of perfect love, and the immediate infilling of the Holy Spirit. Later, as president of Oberlin College, he fused evangelical fervor with academic rigor, training a generation of reformers, abolitionists, and preachers. Hills's biography captures both the electricity of Finney's personality and the profound cultural upheaval he ignited.