Review of Psychological Aspects of the Welsh Revival: 1904-5. (1909). [Review of the book Psychological Aspects of the Welsh Revival: 1904-5. A. T. Fryer]. Psychological Bulletin, 6(6), 196-199.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0069228
Reviews the article Psychological Aspects of the Welsh Revival: 1904-5 by A. T. Fryer (1907). The recent Welsh revival is a striking illustration of a social contagion within small and relatively circumscribed groups. While having much in common with other revivalistic phenomena, it necessarily had an individual character also. Rev. Mr. Fryer's painstaking study is a valuable addition to the literature in this field. His point of view is thoroughly scientific throughout. Reports of all sorts of unusual experiences were rife and it is an important service this author has accomplished in giving a nearly contemporaneous record of what apparently actually occurred. With some there was mere increase in bodily temperature, others had auditory hallucinations of various kinds, such as the chiming of bells, noises, and singing in the air above them. But the most curious and apparently the most commonly reported experience was that of seeing lights. This article does not deal with the moral effects of the Welsh revival. We learn from the most recent reports, however, that, since the lapse of the movement, the normal growth of the Welsh churches has been seriously interfered with and that in some cases there has been a great falling off in membership where, previously, there had been steady growth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)