From Deprived to Revived ― Religious Revivals As Adaptive Systems

Addressing theoretical questions pertaining to the dynamics of religious revival, Heimola (world culture, U. of Helsinki, Finland) builds on earlier research on the evolution of cooperation and altruism, the psychology of social norms, and evidence that features of religion help solve social dilemmas in group behavior. He draws on existing studies and theoretical thought to construct a synthetic picture of religious groups as cohesive norm units, and extends the picture to account for religious revivals. Then he tests the theoretical construct against empirical studies of three Christian revivals in Finland during the early 19th century: the southwestern Jumping Revival, the Ostrobothnian Scorts, and the Kuortane Revival of Jakob Wallenberg and Isak Vasu. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mikko Heimola, University of Helsinki, Finland.