Michael Gleason, When God Walked on Campus

The first thing to say about this book is that it encourages active reading. Each chapter ends with some questions to be answered, questions designed to get the reader thinking and praying about how to apply what they've just read, and to get them thinking about points of similarity between the culture God impacted than, and student culture today.

The book is divided into 4 main time periods over the past two hundred years, and each section finishes with a sermon by a well known Bible teacher of the time, including C.H Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Although most of the examples are from American campuses, Gleason doesn't ignore other contemporary non-student outpourings such as the Welsh Revival, and he examines the impact each outpouring had on global missions.

My main criticism of this book would be that it is at times slightly cynical about the validity of seeing the gospel holistically (i.e. issues like social justice) and he seems slightly over-keen on solely "Word-based" evangelism, although this is a minor point, as his main message is that all of these exciting revivals came about because of the Holy Spirit alone. His idea of the Holy Spirit does not include such current charismatic fripperies as gold fillings and shaking hands, but he writes of the amazing convicting and transforming power that swept though the colleges concerned.

The end of the book is a chapter on common features of these revivals and awakenings. I won't write it all here, cos then you won't read the book, but he does say a few things very pertinent to us here in Cambridge right now. One of the key things that seems to be not the cause, but the precursor of God "rending the heavens," is prayer. In the last two terms we've seen prayer meetings spreading from college to college. This book is an encouragement to keep pressing on in that.

Another thing that was majorly encouraging was the sheer scale of what God did in some of these colleges. He tells of a year at Yale when by the end of that period you could count on one hand the number of non-christians, in a college where the start of the year had seen maybe three. When praying for my college I've thought I was daring to dream big when I've asked God to show himself to half the college, and there's always been that niggling whisper that He can do more. This book will remind you of that, and hopefully increase your boldness in prayer as you get more dissatisfied with what you see around you.

Finally, this book is particularly relevant in light of all the stupid controversies recently. The conclusion you'll come to is not that Cambridge needs more Fusion, not that we need a stronger CiCCU, but that we need more of God. Discipleship and teaching are both important, and I guess one of the books main strengths from a political point of view is balance, but this does not compromise the hardcore incitement to seek more!