America's Great Awakening
George Whitefield,
early America's greatest preacher
I. Elements of the Great Awakening
A. Enthusiasm--emotional manifestations(weeping, fainting, physical
movements) in contrast to staid and formal Anglican and Congregational
worship. Whitefield would preach to crowds as large as 30,000 with
great emotion.
B. Itinerancy--preachers roamed rural and urban areas and held
meetings
C. Democratic religious movement
1) insisted that all should have the religious experience
2) Stirred impulse towards independence among colonists
3) Broke down strong denominational ties
4) Challenged religious authority. Baptists in the South preached to
slaves and
against the ostentatious wealth of the planter class
II. Content of Message
A. Salvation came through faith and
prayer, not rituals or good works
B. The individual, not any religious authority, judged his or her own
behavior based on one's understanding of God and the Bible
C. Personal piety--break away from the constraints of the past and
start fresh. Revivals resulted in changed behaviors (decrease in
card-playing, drunkenness, increase in church attendance, Bible study)
D. Individual revival--rejection of cold rationalism of Puritanism
and
Anglicanism and more reliance on the "heart" rather than the "head."
E. Leading preachers: George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards,
William and George Tennent. Originally welcomed by local
ministers, they often harshly criticized local religiious leaders.
III. Impact of the Great Awakening
A. Creation of new colleges to
train "new light" ministers--Princeton, Brown, Rutgers
B. Divisions in denominations and a
sharpening of the differences between those who defined
religion as a rational process (old lights0 and those who focused
on experience (new lights)
C. Religious challenges to authority
strengthened political challenges to authority. Many Revolutionary War
soldiers were "new light" believers, particularly Methodists,
Presbyterians, and Batpists
D. Development of revivalism tradition in
American religion.
Future outbreaks:
3) Billy Sunday, Billy Graham and mass
meetings--20th century
revivalism
Please cite this source when appropriate:
Feldmeth, Greg D. "America's Great Awakening," U.S. History Resources
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html (Revised 24 June
2004).
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