Finney was best known as a passionate revivalist preacher from 1825 to 1835 in the Burned-over District in Upstate New York and Manhattan, an opponent of Old School Presbyterian theology, an advocate of Christian perfectionism, and a religious writer.

His religious views led him, together with several other evangelical leaders, to promote social reforms, such as abolitionism and equal education for women and African Americans.

The son of farmers who moved to the upstate frontier of Jefferson County, New York, after the American Revolutionary War, Finney never attended college.

[3] He and his family attended the Baptist church in Henderson, New York, where the preacher led emotional, revival-style meetings.

[7][8] As a young man, Finney was a Master Mason, but after his conversion, he left the group as antithetical to Christianity and was active in anti-Masonic movements.

[11] He moved to New York City in 1832, where he was minister of the Chatham Street Chapel and took the breathtaking step of barring all slave owners and traders from Communion.

Grog shops were closed; the Sabbath was honored; the sanctuaries were thronged with happy worshippers; a new impulse was given to every philanthropic enterprise; the fountains of benevolence were opened, and men lived to good.

"[18]: 39 Disciples of Finney included Theodore Weld, John Humphrey Noyes, and Andrew Leete Stone.

In addition to becoming a widely popular Christian evangelist, Finney was involved with social reforms, particularly the abolitionist movement.

Finney frequently denounced slavery from the pulpit, called it a "great national sin," and refused Holy Communion to slaveholders.

After much wrangling, Finney accepted on the conditions that he be allowed to continue to preach in New York, the school admit black people, and free speech be guaranteed at Oberlin.

In the field of soteriology, he denied the doctrine of total depravity, implying humans can please God without the intervention of his grace.

[23] Finney affirmed both the external and internal work of the Holy Spirit within the context of salvation, though with the sole purpose of motivation.

[26] Finney was an advocate of perfectionism, the doctrine that through complete faith in Christ believers could receive a "second blessing of the Holy Spirit" and reach Christian perfection, a higher level of sanctification.

Frances FitzGerald wrote, "In his preaching the emphasis was always on the ability of men to choose their own salvation, to work for the general welfare, and to build a new society.

"[30] Albert Baldwin Dod, another Old School Presbyterian, reviewed Finney's 1835 book Lectures on Revivals of Religion.