More handpicked essays just for you.
What are the major differences between The Enlightenment and The Great Awakening
Second great awakening influence on society
What are the major differences between The Enlightenment and The Great Awakening
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In18th century, two movements were spread across America. They greatly influenced the way how people think about religion, and more importantly they challenged the authority. They were the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. Philosophers such as Jonathan Edwards and Thomas Paine brought their theory and belief to the public and caused great impact. Although they might have different belief, but Jonathan Edwards and Thomas Paine were more similar than they appeared.
What was the Great Awakening? The Great Awakening was a religious revival that began in the 1730s. Many church leaders were worried that as the increase in politics had grown and that participation in religion had begun to fall. These fears lead to the movement of revivals throughout the colonies. There were many preachers involved but the leaders were Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield.
John Green discusses two almost similar events through the use of two videos. The first video, The Seven Years War, and the Great Awakening mostly discusses the American Revolution while the second video, The Seven Years War Crash Course World History discusses mainly the seven years' war. Some of the similarities in the videos include the reasons for the onset of the war. These include the need for land acquisition as well as the battle for sugar plantations. Also, the biggest losers in the war were American Indians.
The Enlightenment views were influenced in Jefferson's Declaration. The most obvious one was Jefferson's deist view of God, which interpreted God in a scientific way rather than in a supernatural way. In the Declaration, he declared that it was the "nature's God" that gave them the rights to separate from the government. He did not say that it was a Catholic's God or a Protestant's God, but a God that belonged to the nature. By doing so, he was able to encompass all the people that were in the colonial states at the time.
The Great Awakening strived to erase the lines between religions by promoting religious pluralism and the concept that all faiths were equal. Primarily, the separation of Church and State was finally in place, which showed the opposition to allowing religion facilitate the decisions of their nation. The Awakening weakened the cultural authority of the upper class and produced a vision of a society drawn in more equal lines. Overall, the thought of finally being equal unified the colonies and created universities that were not controlled by the Church. The new universities promoted different types of curriculum which was not based on religion.
It was intriguing to discover "The Great Awakening" was affected by the new freedom of America. George Whitfield, a clergyman who addresses an impacting message and it cause Ben Franklin to respond and most likely numerous others too. This first awakening redefined religion and brought enlightenment to the colonies. Numerous of historian’s belief, this awakening gave the colonies a new identity as a nation.
Enlightenment was a time period that revolved around philosophy, science, and society, and is less focused on religion. Enlightenment includes a concept proposed by the philosopher John Locke that all humans, when they are born, are entitled to basic human rights. The Enlightenment also includes the thought that things in the universe are constant, leading away from such a strong reliance on God. The concept of Enlightenment inspired many proceeding declarations, including the USA’s declaration because it encouraged equality to all men. John Locke was an Enlightenment thinker who proposed that as humans, we are entitled to basic rights and that when we are born we are blank canvases and are thereafter altered by our surroundings.
The American Enlightenment and the Great Awakening were two very important motivators that changed the colonial society in America through religious beliefs, educational values, and the right to live one’s life according to each individual’s preference. The Great Awakening and the American Enlightenment movements were two events in history that signaled a grand distinction to the teachings among religious believers. New beliefs of how a person should worship in order to be considered in “God’s good graces” soon became an enormous discussion among colonists across the land. “Men of the cloth,” such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were well respected and closely followed when preaching about the love of God and damnation.
In the Age of Reason, also known as the Enlightenment period, times were changing. Originally, people’s perception of life was based on religion. Religion had answers to things such as why you were sick, or why you were poor. This time occurred in the 17th century when certain scientist, philosophers, and writers decided that there were other reasons besides religion on why things happened. Many believed that all life could be explained by scientific views rather than religion.
The Great Awakening, which lasted from 1739 to 1745, left a permanent impact on American Protestantism. It was a revitalizing movement, and prompted many religious conversations that deeply impacted various communities. The two main ideas in America were Enlightenment Rationalism and Continental Pietism. Before the Great Awakening, the majority of people were Calvinist, however this quickly changed. When the Great Awakening began, new sects began to form - such as the Latter Day Saints.
The Great Awakening put its faith in Scripture while the Enlightenment put theirs in science. Christians and philosophes both wanted religious freedom and they shared a scorn for political or religious leaders who appealed power over others by virtue of divine right. Both didn’t accept the basic principle of why the king of England supported by the Church of England or had any inherent right to rule over the American
“Independence, free will, and personal effort are considered primary virtues that contribute not only to personal achievement but also to the success and well-being of the nation.” This quote, stated by Charles Finney, means that people must be able to choose for themselves and make their own decisions in order for the country to become better than it is. The Second Great Awakening began for several different reasons, consisted of many different church revivals and leaders, and ultimately had a lasting impact for several more years after the end of the Second Great Awakening. There were several different factors that led up to the Second Great Awakening. Some such factors are listed by Richard Kaplan in his article titled, The Second Great
I agree that the Enlightenment was force for positive change in society. The Enlightenment was one was the most important intellectual movements in History, as it dominated and influenced the way people thought in Europe in the late 17th and 18th centuries. We will look at how it ultimately influenced the American and French Revolution which is still strongly governed by these ideas and principles today. The Age of Enlightenment was a European movement which emphasizing reasoning and individualism in preference to tradition.
The Enlightenment worldview contributed a great deal to today’s modern world. The following essay will review this view and provide commentary as to the acceptance of this thesis and how it manifests in the present to then address the question presented in the title to demonstrate that the Enlightenment is indeed a continuation of mankind’s cultural development and as such can be regarded as progress on that journey.
The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over
