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Essay On The First And Second Great Awakening

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The First and Second Great Awakening brought forth religious and social movements that impacted the American culture, appealing to the individual. Occurring in the early 18th century, the First Great Awakening was born within the 13 British Colonies with the Revolutionary War on the horizon. Decades later, the Second Great Awakening flourished under revivals and reforms, impacting the 19th century and years to follow. Despite being born out of different climates, The First and Second Great Awakening was characterized by the rejection of rational thinking for emotional preaching that reached the heart and soul, inspiring change in the negative perception of reason and positive perception of emotion and individualism in religion as well as the …show more content…

David Shi with George Tindall, historians and authors of the textbook America: The Essential Learning Edition wrote about the rise of the Great Awakening, mentioning how it was formed as a retaliation against the rationalist thinking of the Enlightenment and the established churches of the colonies, such as the Church of England, Puritan Congregationalism, and the Dutch Reformed Church. Both of these forces were pushing out the concept of the traditional religious life, but the arrival of touring evangelists, preachers of the gospel, disturbed the system. These travelers, called itinerants, helped spark the beginnings of the Great Awakening, its impact spanning the 13 colonies. These itinerants reestablished the spiritual essence of religion that was lost with the Enlightenment, arousing the masses to attend the sermons of these …show more content…

Similarly, established churches were creating boundaries and restrictions on people due to their faith, meanwhile having the endorsement of the state governments, creating a system of one church per region. For example, Puritan Congregationalism was the recognized faith in New England. David Shi describes how The Great Awakening split and rearranged these boundaries as it challenged the ideology of the established church. The emphasis that people could receive God’s grace without their local minister created a rift in the churches, such as the division of the Presbyterians into “Old Side” and “New Side”. Jonathan Edwards, a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts, known as a theologian who created Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, stated in Thoughts on the Revival how the population had been split into two like two different cavalries, ready to battle. This split impacted the method of worship across the

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Regardless of a colony’s religious situation, whether they allowed complete freedom of worship or were occupied by strict religious laws, all thirteen colonies were affected by a movement called the Great Awakening. Generally, the Great Awakening is characterized by a fervent revival in religion practice. Although, this movement had a major impact on most aspects of colonial life, it is important to note the effect it had on religion and how that in turn affected the political life of the colonist. Because of The Great Awakening, many ministers lost authority the authority they held over because more people were taking to studying the Bible in their own homes. This idea would have larger implications for the future.

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In the novel The kingdom of Matthias by Paul E. Johnson & Sean Wilentz, captures the importance of the Evolution in early American history and the second Great Awakening. The reason this book is important is because it highlights the start of America going from rural to urban during the 19th century and the influence that religion had on America during this time period from the action of prophet Matthias and other like him. Furthermore the novel begins with the young man Elijah Pierson which comes from a strict Calvinist family. Following he moved to New York and he was known as one of the best for the religouis reforming that he conduct.

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The decline of Calvinism during the First Great Awakening yielded a more individualistic view of salvation and religion as a whole, inevitably resulting in new interpretations of Puritanism. Before the First Great Awakening began, the Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced a decline in religion between 1700 and 1725. The colonists viewed the ministers as too formal and lacking religion of the heart. However, beginning around the 1730s, the revival brought a new style of emotional, oratory preaching, which argued that everyone was damned unless he/she repented. This introduced the question “what can I do to be saved?”

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The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalism is a book written by Barry Hankins in 2014. The main idea that the book reflects is that the Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalism reinforced Americans beliefs in the individual’s importance and support even as it helped to bring a sense of community to a highly nomadic masses. The Second Great Awakening movement transformed the American religion and society in a number of ways. While there was a large growth of the deism in New England. Church’s revolutionary fervor tended to alienate it from its constituency.

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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.

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People had both the right and the duty to make whatever changes were necessary to come up with a new government or new reforms to that government to better serve their needs. This is basically was the mindset of the people who believed that reform was need in society. The Second Great Awakening refers to a period of religious revivals at occurred in the United States in the 1830s. After this period, many reform movements took place to better serve society and the people in it.

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One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.

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By 1607, the British colonized Jamestown, the first successful English settlement in North America. However, the British were so far away from North America. Because of how far they were from North America, they became less strict with their trade regulations with its colonists and ignored whatever the colonists did for the most part. This British policy is salutary neglect and because of it, the colonists were able to create their own governments, create a capitalist economy, and have more religious freedom. These vital principles that are rooted in American society, were uniquely developed by the British colonies to some extent by 1754.

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British Colonial and Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards delivered a sermon, “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God”, to a congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts which was then published in 1741. This sermon was the trigger for the First Great Awakening through Britain and the 13 colonies. In his sermon, Edwards utilized a metaphor comparing his audience to an insect being held over a fire in order to instill guilt and fear because of their religious mistakes, ultimately moving them to repent their sins and practice true devotion to the Christian doctrine. In his sermon, Edwards employs a hostile metaphor to invoke feelings of guilt and distress in his audience.

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192 Words | 1 Pages

The First Great Awakening was brought over to America from Europe in the early 1700’s, which brought Pietism, Enlightenment and Protestant faith. The Protestant faith was established in the United States during the colonial era with the first Great Awakening and grew after the War of 1812. Men were mostly of the hierarchy till the roles of the women transitioned through the war. A while later, the Second Great Awakening increased the churches to a lucrative Christian society in which preached spiritual equality and could democratically govern themselves within a hierarchy (Henretta). During the Second Great Awakening there was a substantial amount of importance for religious women in the church as they searched for a social, political and cultural

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1047 Words | 5 Pages

In the 1700s during the Great Awakening, Puritans worked harder than ever to increase the number of saved Christians. They constantly tried to convince sinners to convert and be “born again”. The Puritans inflicted fear upon all who were not converted in hopes of convincing them to follow the word of God. In 1741 Pastor Jonathan Edwards induced a strong sense of fear in his congregation through the use of powerful sermons filled with rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos in hopes of increasing the number of “born again” Christians. Jonathan Edwards gave many powerful sermons in attempt to purify his congregation, one of his most famous being “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.

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The awakening’s biggest significance was the way it set the tone for American for its War of Independence. Revivalism taught people to be bold when confronting religious authority, and that when churches weren’t staying up with people’s expectations they could break out off and form new ones. Rousseau was concerned about inequality because he witness in person his own native town transition from a feudal to capitalist economy centered on nascent manufacturing and international banking. He believed that one of the most important tasks of the government is to prevent extreme inequalities of fortunes. The wealthy are in a good position to shape laws to there own interests, which is typically at the expense of the poor.

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William Byrd and Jonathan Edwards were two of the most influential Colonial American writers. Colonial America was a time of finding religious “refuge”. Enlightenment is emphasizing reason and individuals rather than tradition. Two major religious views came from Anglicans and Puritans. A puritan is a single minded visionary who is convinced of the rights to their own beliefs.

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Jonathan Edwards was a New England Puritan in the year of 1736 as he wrote A Faithful Narrative trying to explain the awakening. Edwards writes this for the British ministers, explaining the awakening Northampton, Massachusetts when though in 1730s. Describing the ups and downs the culture went though with God. He breaks it into three stages of how people worshiped and saw God in their day-to-day life. Edward wants to show how Christian experience and how his community has been together for so long with little religious problems.

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Despite the intricate positions on abolition, the Second Great Awakening influenced many leaders and developed new principles that radiated throughout the country. Christianity was the one unifying factor that most Americans could identify with at the time. The Enlightenment Era challenged old ideas of divine authority and stimulated a more progressive church aiming for equality. With leaders in the church declaring that slavery was a sin, and promoting the idea of a forgiving God, many northerners began to reach out and spread the word of God and secure their eternal salvation. These values were preached to most Americans from a very young age through song and childrens books.

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