Charles Finney

Charles Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was an American Congregationalist/Presbyterian minister and revivalist in the Second Great Awakening. Finney, an advocate of Christian perfectionism, was best known as an innovative revivalist during the period 1825–1835 in both upstate New York and Manhattan. He is known today as the “Father of Modern Revivalism.”

In collaboration with his peers, Charles Finney has promoted social reforms such as the abolition of slavery as well as equal education for women and African Americans. From 1835 onward, Finney taught at Oberlin College which was one of the first schools without segregation of race and gender. He served as Oberlin’s second president from 1851 to 1866, at which time the faculty and students were actively opposing abolition, assisting with the Underground Railroad and promoting universal education.

“Having raised up his Son Jesus, says the apostle, 'he hath sent him to bless you in turning every one of you from his iniquities' Let no one expect to saved from hell, unless the grace of the Gospel saves him first from sin.”