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The Great Awakening Essay

623 Words3 Pages

The Great Awakening

Margaret Byl

Church History

Essay 2

December 14, 2022

The Great Awakening was the dawn of a new era for the American colonies. It was a religious revival that took place between 1730 and 1740 that emphasized the terror of the law to unrepentant sinners and the unmerited grace of God through the new birth in Jesus Christ. Conditions were set for a great revival in America. The contributions of Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley and George Whitefield were crucial to this revival. Many changes in the religious life of the Americans made because of the Great Awakening.
The Great Awakening was the result of several combined events taking place across England and Europe. At the time, the rationalism of the …show more content…

The first, Jonathan Edwards, was a Congregational pastor from Northampton, Massachusetts. As a brilliant academian he was renowned for his writings. His greatest sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” is still studied in English classes today. His calm and well thought out sermons brought many to tears. Next was John Wesley, an Anglican priest and graduate of Oxford university. After being converted by Moravian Brethren, he emphasized the need for conversion to everyone through his preaching. Though his preaching was predominantly in England, its effects were felt across the colonies. Last, but not least, George Whitfield was a Calvinist open air preacher from Gloucester, England. As an eloquent speaker, known for having a powerful voice, he always drew large crowds throughout England and on his preaching tours through the colonies. Thanks to these three, a whole new era was …show more content…

Most of the change took place among the Dutch Reformed, the Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Anglicans all of whom were Calvinists of one sort or another. The wave of rationalism as a result of the European Enlightenment had been stemmed. Calvinist theology became more accessible and evangelical. As more Christian colleges were established the toleration for religious diversity increased. These changes clearly did not go over well with everyone, leading to increasing divisions within denominations. Many Americans were drawn away from the Anglican church and thereby away from Britain. This, in part, contributed to the American Revolution. During the Great Awakening, religion went from being a Christian in name only to having a personal conversion and true faith. This time period was summed up best by Benjamin Franklin when he wrote “ From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem’d as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every

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