On January 20, 1994, a revival began in Toronto that dominated the pentecostal-charismatic scene throughout the rest of the 1990s. People reported experiencing an intense immediacy of the Spirit accompanied by dramatic physical signs: shaking, falling down, dancing, even barking like dogs and roaring like lions. People from around the world visited the Airport Vineyard Church (later: Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, later still: Catch the Fire) to experience the Father’s love and to bring that experience home to their own congregations.

Revivals are complex phenomena to understand. Margaret M. Poloma takes a multidisciplinary approach in Main Street Mystics, deftly employing anthropology, sociology, psychology, neurology, and musicology (238) to describe just what made a small Vineyard church the number one tourist attraction in Toronto.

Poloma calls herself as a “pilgrim researcher” (240). As charismatic Christian, Poloma moves between engagement and reflection, involvement and detachment. While this sort of research would be rejected in older paradigms as a betrayal of ‘objectivity,’ it reflects the rising trend of Practice-Led Research in the academy.

For Christians, Poloma’s pilgrim perspective is important. Poloma doesn’t try to explain away the revival, but rather seeks to understand the work of God more deeply using modern academic theory. Poloma’s work is descriptive, not prescriptive. Consider it faith seeking understanding.

In this book, Poloma synthesizes and expands on the original research she published in a number of academic journals. Don’t let the word ‘academic’ scare you, though. Despite drawing from different disciplines, Poloma’s work is always readable and engaging. Main Street Mystics is the best work on the Toronto Blessing available.

Poloma, Margaret M. Main Street Mystics: The Toronto Blessing & Reviving Pentecostalism. AltaMira Press, 2003.