Whitefield's Role In The Great Awakening
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.
Religion before the Great Awakening was strictly based on class and social status. Most people in the colonies sat in different seats, and they were divided into sections. It was not until the Great Awakening that these different social groups of people started to mix. Women, for example were treated harsh in the Puritan churches. They were considered as subordinates of men, and they did not have any roles in churches.
The Great Awakening was a spiritual renewal that cleared the American colonies (particularly New England) and took place in 1730 through 1760. In the 1730’s, a religious revival swept through the British American Colonies and a man named Jonathan Edwards refused to convert to the Church of England. Eventually, people were even beginning to suggest predestination was wrong and good works might save a soul. Not only Jonathan Edwards started this but people like George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers started to preach to God and began to disassociate themselves which led to a general sense of complacency.
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.
Religion played a significant role in shaping the political and social landscape of the colonies during the revolutionary era and played a multifaceted role in the development and eventual success of the revolutionary movement. Both individuals and groups were major in uniting the minds and movements of American people towards a common cause. Movements like The Great Awakening changing the rituals, ideologies, and giving people self-awareness provided a basis for unified movement and thought. Religious groups like the Quakers, in advocating for nonviolence and civil disobedience as a means of resistance to British rule, helped shape the ideology of the Revolution. Many of the founding fathers, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin,
World War Two managed to completely change American society in numerous ways. One of the aspects transformed was US’s foreign policy. Before the war, US was an isolationist. They had neutrality acts to keep them from engaging in Europeans armed hostilities, refused to join the League of Nations and the world court, and were overall not involved in world affairs. After WW2, the United States frequently intervenes, never retreats, they also have military bases all around the world, they joined the League of Nations (which they stationed in NY), and were overall more active in foreign policy.
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.
Literary analysis of “The sinners in the hands of an angry god” The great awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the 1730s and 1740s. It started in England and then gradually made its way over to the American colonies. During this time, many different preachers and religious speakers went around and gave speeches to the people. Jonathan Edwards was one of Americas most important and original philosophical theologians who also went around and gave speeches about God and hell.
Although all the colonists all came from England, the community development, purpose, and societal make-up caused a distinct difference between two distinct societies in New England and the Chesapeake region. The distinctions were obvious, whether it be the volume of religious drive, the need or lack of community, families versus single settlers, the decision on minimal wage, whether or not articles of agreements were drawn for and titles as well as other social matters were drawn, as well as where loyalties lay in leaders. New England was, overall, more religious than the Chesapeake region. Settlers in New England were searching relief for religious persecution in Europe. Puritans, Quakers, and Catholics were coming in droves to America searching for an opportunity to have religious freedom.
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 some of these churches from Virginia to Georgia few people would attend or pay attention to the guidelines in these churches supported by colonial taxes and even the slaves were barred from entering these churches (Findling 47). With these issues there would be a need for change and this change would be called “The Great Awakening”. George Whitefield would be one of the first people that would lead the Great Awakening that would change America. George Whitefield came from England to America with the knowledge of Methodism and German pietism in 1739. With the knowledge that he had and the way he was able to move people emotionally with his voice and to what he had to say he was invited to churches from Georgia to New England.
Richard Kaplan also said, “the theological belief in the potential mutability, indeed perfectibility, of people also encouraged a reforming attitude toward social institutions. Humanity and earthly society were not inherently sinful and, thus, could and should be reformed.” With the new quantity of religious people, the belief that there should no longer be sinful or unjust things grew tremendously. With this belief, people began to believe that things that needed to be reformed, should be reformed. The Second Great Awakening sparked a nationwide wave of reform movements that had a huge impact on American society throughout the 19th century.
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.
The subject of this sermon is the ideology of success in the colonies. Winthrop used various emotions to create imagery of the ideal society. He presented the subject through the ideals of God: unity, community, and self-pleasure under the
Social Darwinism and the Social Gospel Movement are contrasting systems of belief. Social Darwinism suggests that people are in the social or financial state that they deserve. This appealed to the work ethic that anyone could do well if they worked hard enough. For some, this was a source of inspiration to work hard to excel.
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