Great+Awakening



=Introduction= In the early eighteenth century, the American colonists became significantly less enthusiastic about religion than the founding generation had been. The Puritan churches were especially affected, due to their elaborate theological doctrines and their mediatory efforts to liberalize membership. Churchgoers became increasing critical of the long, droning Puritan sermons, while some ministers worried that many of their members had strayed too far from the path of orthodoxy. These elements combined to create a surge of liberal ideas that began to challange traditional Puritanism. Some worshipers began to believe that their souls could be saved through good works and that they were not necessarily predestined to damnation. The ideas of Jacobus Arminius and others influenced some churches to reluctantly admit that spiritual conversion was not necessary for church membership.

These tensions set the stage for a religious revial known as the Great Awakening that started in 1734 in Northampton, Massachusetts with the influence an intellectual pastor, Jonathan Edwards. He strove to reinstate the doctrine of complete dependance on God's grace, and not on salvation through good works. Later, another influential pastor, George Whitefield, birthed a new and different style of evangelical preaching in America that revolutionized the spiritual life of the colonies. His preaching style was filled with theatrics and emotional appeal. Eventually, Congregationalists and Presbyterians split over the controversy created by these new, liberal preaching methods. The movement greatly increased the diversity and competitiveness of American churches and was the first sponataneous unified movement of the American people. It broke down sectional boundaries and denominational lines and added to the growing sense that Americns were a single people, united by shared history and experience. [2]

=Religious Climate in the Early Colonies= The rapid expansion and diversification of the American colonies led to dynamic changes in views about church, God, and specific practices such as preaching and sacraments. Many citizens found themselves at odds with church leaders and policies, and consequently many of them became less reverent and more critical of puritan practices and strict membership. This loss of emphasis on strict religious adherence resulted in changes in Church policy that attempted to reign in the colonists and ensure that membership would not suffer. New, more liberal relgious leaders began to further different ideas and new methods that would be able to appeal to the changing views of the colonists. [1] While utilizing these new methods, the Church attempted to reaffirm some traditional puritan ideas such as complete reliance on God's grace for salvation. The American colonies were not truly established on principles of religious diversity. This was very apparent in the first founder's attempts to create a Church filled with "visible saints", or those who clearly display God's grace in their lives and are predestined for salvation. "Those not consciously saved in this way could not be communicating members or the church, nor could they be voting members of the community." Only Church members could hold office, and all members were expected to show obvious Christian Piety. Official Church records would contain a list of names of those on a path to salvation and those on the opposite path to damnation. [3]

=﻿New Preaching Methods= =__﻿__=

__Jonathan Edwards and The Revival at Northampton, 1734__
Since his childhood, Jonathan Edwards was close to the church. His father was a revivalist, and he greatly impacted Edwards’s religious life. Edwards started praying very often at a young age, usually 5 times a day. [1] He would sometimes meet with other boys to pray. He became opne of the few individuals chosen for conversion. His elders saw him as an elect, but he himself struggled to believe in himself until he had a spitirual breakthrough at Yale when he was 17. When is religious mentor Solomon Stoddard died, he took over the Northampton pulpit when he was 26. He specifically devoted his preaching to the youth. He believe that young people require extra attention because they were straying too far from reverence. His popularity skyrocketed when he gave his "Public Lecture" in Boston in July 1731. Edwards preached to reaffirm God's complete authority over salvation, claiming that it is God's grace alone that can fairly place someone on the track towards heaven. [3] Ultimate salvation or damnation was truly dependent upon God's will, and the preacher therefore only acts as a guide. His teachings sparked a religious revival. Continuing his successful campaign, he devised a new plan for the youth in 1733. He charged that young people were becoming irreverent and urged them to attend service weekly and believed fathers should meet to ensure that their children were close enough to God and the Church. In Pascommuck, he successfully helped young people organize into small groups to discuss religion and God. Edwards dubbed this form of study “social religion”. In December 1734, hordes of (mostly younger) religious folk claimed that they had converted. The news of revival and conversion spread rapidly, encouraging many more people of all aes to see light. Social religion began spread to all age groups. Some were critical of the revival and named it illigitimate, but it nonetheless revived a religious spirit in the colonies.

__George Whitefield__
Whitefield was born in Gloucester England in 1714,. His father died when he was very young. He grew up following the Church of England, but unlike Edwards, he was not very religious in his childhood. He loved theater as a youth, which most likely helped him become such a great speaker. [1] As a teenager he claimed that he began experiencing visions of God's grace. At 17 he successfully enrolled at Oxford, studying to be a priest. Upon his admission, he began praying and learning reverently. He believed that Satan was everywhere and that one must be watchful and fearful. As a result, he often failed to sleep and instead worked or prayed. After graduating, he started preaching all over England and Bristol, and quickly became a success. His published sermons old many copies He became very popular, and he recieved a request to preach in Georgia. He arrived there in 1738, greeted by a very unorganized religious system. The area was stricken with heavy poverty, so he created an orphanage before returning to England. Once back in England, he devised a new plan called "field preaching". It would be done outdoors in order to reach a greater variety of people and to attract larger crowds. He had great success in England, but wished to achieve more. He returned to America to continue his preaching. His new and unique preaching styles coupled with effective rhetoric helped further the agenda of the Great Awakening. =﻿= =Lasting Effects= The Great Awakening, along with the complex reactions to the changes that it brought, acted as a powerful force in shaping religious history in America. The various new teachings and the resulting contradictory belief systems staged a very significant change in religious relations. At first, it helped spark greater interest in Christianity through both liberal teaching methods and growing membership and reverence. Eventually, however, it set a course for Christianity in the United States that began to put a growing emphasis on the “Arminian” doctrine of religious free will. Those who felt isolated by the countless new teachings established somewhat of a liberal retaliation against teachings that they found undesirable. The Great Awakening therefore spurred religious development in many sectors and help shape The Church and make it what it is today. [7]

=Citations=
 * 1) Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: the Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. Print.
 * 2) Kennedy, David, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. Print.
 * 3) Tracy, Joseph. The Great Awakening: a History of the Revival of Religion in the Time of Edwards and Whitefield. Boston: Charles Tappan, 1845. Print.
 * 4) "Jonathan Edwards." . Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. . 24 October 2010 .
 * 5) Belcher, Joseph . "George Whitefield." From:George Whitefield: a biography,. Wikimedia Commons. 1857. 24 October 2010 [].
 * 6) Edwards, Jonathan . "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God, A Sermon P. Wikimedia. 1741. 24 October 2010 [].
 * 7) Wills, Garry . Head and Heart: A History of Christianity in America. London: Penguin Books, 2007.