Reading about God’s Spirit in action is always an encouragement. Tom Lennie delves into Scotland’s rich history and assesses the numerous accounts of revival that set people on fire for the gospel in the second half of the 19th century. These stories embolden us to live out our faith with the assurance that the same God is at work today. Read and be inspired!

Lennie’s historical grasp of the national and local context of the mid–Victorian era provides an insightful and scholarly grasp on what God was achieving during those years. In covering areas as geographically and culturally diverse as rural Aberdeenshire, industrial Lanarkshire, the borders and the north of Scotland Lennie has provided not only a scholar’s understanding of the times, but he also describes the significance and importance of: passionate prayer, the role of the local church, itinerant preachers, and the impact of the Spirit on entire communities. Lennie’s writing, however, should come with a ‘health warning’; it is difficult to put it down once you begin to flick through its pages.

They say that history is boring – but what makes it interesting is when you get to the details. If that’s the case then Tom Lennie’s Scotland Ablaze must be one of the most interesting books on Scotland ever written. It is packed full of well–researched and evidenced detail. This is a book that will be used for decades to come as a source on the state of Christianity in Scotland in the 19th Century. You can dip in and out of it, but most of all it reminds us of a glorious time in Scottish history. Scotland Ablaze leads us to cry ‘Lord, do it again!’

As we read what God did in our past, I pray this book will do the same for a new generation, and stir us to cry to God to do a similar mighty work again. May Scotland be set ablaze for His glory once more!