A Historical Survey of the Totality of Events of the Great Hawaiian Revival from 1836-1842

Nicholas “Nick” Freeman, a Ph. D. candidate at the Rawlings School of Divinity, presented his dissertation on the Great Revival in Hawai‘i. The original, thorough study of this movement which led to Hawai‘i becoming known as a Christian kingdom, drew thousands of native Hawaiians to Christianity. It was claimed that Haili Church in Hilo under the Rev. Titus Coan in the late 1830s gathered the largest Protestant Congregation in the entire world. Today Hawai‘i evangelical churches are seeking to repeat the Great Revival in the twenty-first century. A careful study of “The Great Hawaiian Revival” reveals what happened in the past, and offers valuable information on what led up to and spirited this famous revival.

Over the Christmas season Nick shared his paper with me.

His overview of The Great Hawaiian Revival provides a preview of its contents:

“This dissertation has sought to provide an overview of the Great Hawaiian Revival of 1836 through 1842, including what work was done to enable its fruition, who were the key players before and during the revival, where and when it began and spread, how the missionary church admittance policy affected the revival, and what were its ultimate results. The specific purpose was first to determine where most of the evidence pointed to as the revival’s starting point, and who were the other key players involved.

“While much of the previous research has focused on Hilo, Hawaii, as ground zero for its commencement and Titus Can as the primary player, it is the heart of this study to flesh out the historical evidence which contradicts this narrative and provide a more detailed and fair review of the events that took place. The second purpose of this study is to determine where and when the revival spread throughout the Islands, and what were the results overall, in addition to the events at Hilo.”

The Great Hawaiian Revival paper is available online in the Digital Commons collection of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Nick also posts a wide variety of interesting articles focused on the Christian History of Hawai‘i. Titles include “Titus Coan’s Last Battle,” “Queen Regent Ka‘ahumanu: Spiritual and Educational Visionary,” “Rev. Davida Malo: Hawaii’s First Apologist for Christianity.” I began my research into the life of ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia-Henry Obookiah, and subsequently the Christian history of Hawai‘i field, in 1983. Nick’s interests and insightful and accurate posts concur with and enhance my contributions.