Sacramental occasions, or “Holy Fairs,” practiced by Scots-Irish Presbyterians in mid-nineteenth-century America were intended to bring conversion to nonbelievers and spiritual renewal to baptized Christians. Kimberly Bracken Long examines the chief texts of American revivalism–sermons, devotional writings, and catechetical materials–to gain insights into the sacramental theology at work in these events, as well as into the nature of revivalism in the American Presbyterian context. She also explores several implications for twenty-first-century Reformed and Presbyterian worship.
Kimberly Bracken Long is Associate Professor of Worship at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a leading expert in liturgy. Long is the coeditor of Inclusive Marriage Services: A Wedding Sourcebook, editor of the Feasting on the Word Worship Companion series, and author of The Worshiping Body: The Art of Leading Worship, all published by Westminster John Knox Press.