Michael Wilkinson, professor of sociology at Trinity Western University, and Linda M. Ambrose, professor of history at Laurentian University, trace the evolution of Pentecostalism in Canada from its earliest manifestations on the fringe of Canadian religious life to the formation and growth of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC)—one of today's largest Protestant denominations in the mainstream of Canadian evangelicalism (the PAOC contains two-thirds of all Canadian classical Pentecostals).

Both Wilkinson (sociologist) and Ambrose (historian) have been at the center of sustained rigorous and insightful research into Canadian Pentecostalism for over a decade, and with this volume they provide an analysis derived from the helpful symbiosis of their two disciplines. After the Revival draws upon a rich and diverse spectrum of sources, such as archival material, census results, and interviews, to trace the growth of the PAOC from its Hebden Mission origins in 1906 to a national denomination in the early twenty-first century.

As their opening historiographical survey indicates, histories of the PAOC have in the last few decades moved from the earlier, problematic, old-school triumphalistic and providentialist denominational works to more analytical and scholarly ones. And this volume is an excellent example of a sophisticated denominational history that respects the lived experience of its subjects but, at the same time, is concerned with evidence and critical analysis.

Wilkinson and Ambrose are focused on issues surrounding the social processes of religious organization—specifically, “how the PAOC organized, established its identity, and constructed a subculture” to carry out its purposes over the past century. Their argument is that the history of the PAOC demonstrates a flexibility “to negotiate [its] place in the religious landscape, sometimes reflecting broader cultural patterns while at other times in conflict with them” (6). Their research indicates that while leaders were concerned with conversions and their newfound experience of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's life, the PAOC's leaders over the decades also paid consistent and deliberate attention to organizing structures, theology, schools, and leadership—all critical initiatives that paid rich dividends in the establishment of the denomination.

Issues related to secularization have dominated histories of denominations for decades, and this volume is a refreshing break from that familiar line of inquiry. The authors are also dissatisfied with assumptions related to religious market models. Instead, they chose a cultural analysis. Wilkinson and Ambrose chose to pursue a more helpful line of inquiry that is focused on how religious communities engage with the wider culture but also develop a meaningful subculture with its own assumptions and beliefs. They state their methodological reliance on Penny Edgell, and her theoretical assumptions related to institutional field, lived religion, and symbolic boundaries shape their line of inquiry.

Institutional field is concerned with how religion organizes itself, and that particular focus provides insight into the evolution of structures in the PAOC. A focus on lived religion takes seriously the convictions and practices of the community being studied, and subsequently Wilkinson and Ambrose seek to understand members of the PAOC in their own particular context. It is worth noting that a recognition of the lived religion of the PAOC has contributed to a sympathetic (rather than condescending) book of a movement that has had detractors. The third aspect, symbolic boundaries, however, is what Wilkinson and Ambrose find most useful for their analysis. Cultural tools—religious ideas, symbols, and metaphors—act as boundary markers that “create both a sense of belonging as well as dissonance” (33). Wilkinson and Ambrose argue that the discovery and subsequent codification of Pentecostal beliefs and practices into more formal PAOC expectations acted as boundary markers for who was genuinely Pentecostal. They also aided in formulating, or rejecting, relationships with outside bodies, whether religious denominations or secular government agencies. The focus on symbolic boundaries also makes one sensitive to issues of power and authority, for who has the final say on such matters? Finally, an awareness of the fluidity of identity allows for a nuanced charting of the vicissitudes and evolution of PAOC distinctiveness over the course of the last century.

After detailing methodological and historiographical matters in the introduction and chapter 1, the book proceeds chronologically. Chapter 2 examines the initial homegrown birth of the movement, challenging the monogenesis theory of Pentecostal origins in Azusa. Issues related to authority in the early movement are the focus, and the early struggles are portrayed by Wilkinson and Ambrose as aspects of boundary making by individuals and organizations to define the identity of the nascent movement. Chapter 3 follows the development of formal church structure, such as incorporation in 1919. PAOC identity was also shaped through the establishing of print media and schools in the face of larger threats related to pressures of war (many early Pentecostals were pacifists) and modernism. Chapter 4 examines the post-World War heyday of rapid baby-boom expansion but also the time of what were seen as dangerous cultural undercurrents. Issues related to identity and boundary making in this chapter deal with the roles of men, women, and children in the church—more specifically, how the PAOC reflected gendered culture norms, something that was a departure from the radical vision for women in the earliest years of Pentecostalism. Chapter 5 examines the church during the crises of the 1960s onward. The period was initially marked by a confident engagement with culture, but in the 1980s, as the cultural tide continued to turn against them, there grew a waning confidence in the efficacy of such efforts (and the PAOC leaving such efforts to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada). Marked by discourse of uncertainty, concern, and fear, the reactions of the PAOC to the liberalizing of society's views of abortion, marriage, and sexuality were marked by boundary-making attempts at preserving traditional views. This chapter introduces a study of how Australian Pentecostals have dealt with LGBTQ issues as a foil for the PAOC experience. But that Australian commentary seems to come out of the blue, and Wilkinson and Ambrose shift from being merely descriptive to providing a more prescriptive agenda related to negotiating identity and boundaries. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with the PAOC's attempts to face new realities, such as the need to evangelize Canada through home missions and the need to response to changes due to growing ethnic and religious diversity. In these cases, issues related to boundaries, identity, inclusion, and exclusion were grappled with, and the authors are fair in both their recognition of denominational success and failure.

In conclusion, this is an excellent volume that provides a detailed, thoughtful, and innovative approach to the study of one of Canada's larger Protestant denominations.