The Great Awakening

Great Awakening:

In addition to being a time of religious revival in the American colonies, the Great Awakening was also a defining moment in the life of the American people. This period was characterized by an increase in interest in religion and prevalent revivals. Moreover, the great awakening was also a period of deep sense of guilt and redemption, an increase in church membership and the growth of new denominations and religious movements. By the time of its conclusion, the great awakening had swept the colonies of the Eastern Coastline while transforming the religious and social lives of the land. Ironically, the great awakening was not a single constant revival but several revivals in various locations. In fact, these various revivals defined the state of religion in the colonies because they were religiously asleep.

However, most of the attempts in putting down roots were terribly and largely unsuccessful. For instance, the Anglicans who came to control the religious life in Virginia following the establishment of royal control over Jamestown were unsuccessful just like the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay. In reality, the parish system used by both the Anglicans and Puritans was difficult to transfer. The small farms and new plantations that spread out in the wasteland made communication and religious discipline difficult as compared to the condensed communities of the old world. Furthermore, church membership and participation was also difficult due to the fact that people usually lived far from parish churches.

As the concern for survival and earning a living from the harsh and difficult land increased, the concern for theological issues faded. Authoritarian governmental and religious structures began to be met with resistance as people were dependent on themselves for survival. Consequently, majority of the American population were outside church membership by the second and third generations. Because the Eastern Coastline was full of people who were not going to church, there was a great need for revival that would ignite religious enthusiasm. Those who led this great awakening were surprised by the turn of events which characterized their efforts and attributed it to God's grace. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm and fervor that characterized the great awakening faded away with time.

The First Great Awakening:

It is believed that there are technically four great awakenings that have occurred since mid 18th Century to the 20th Century. However, the first great awakening, commonly known as the great awakening, can best be explained as a renewal of religious piety, which occurred throughout the American colonies between the 1730s and the 1770s. The Great Awakening was part of a much broader revival that was simultaneously taking place in England, Scotland and Germany. The revival, a new Age of Faith, occurred to oppose the currents of the Age of Enlightenment and growing rationality in all these Protestant cultures. This revival occurred in the mid 18th Century to reiterate the notion that religion means trusting the heart rather than the head as well as depending on biblical revelation instead of human reasoning.

The earliest manifestations of the great awakening in America were among Presbyterians in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They were led by Reverend William Tennent who was a Scots-Irish immigrant together with his four sons who were all clergymen. In addition to initiating religious revivals in those colonies in the 1730s, the Presbyterians also established a seminary, Princeton University, to train clergymen. These clergymen's fervid and heartfelt preaching brought sinners to experience religious conversion.

With America, especially the Eastern Seashore, being in need of religious revival, there was a rapid spread of religious enthusiasm from the Presbyterians in the Middle Colonies to the Puritans and Baptists in New England. Using Tennents' strategy, the clergymen of Presbyterian, Puritan and Baptist churches were conducting revivals in their regions by the 1740s. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards stirred up flamboyant and terrifying images of the absolute corruption of the human nature in their emotionally charged sermons. These preachers also described the terrors awaiting the unrepentant in hell in their powerful sermons.

Some of the converts from the early revivals in the northern colonies were inspired to become missionaries to the southern region of America. The great awakening continued to spread in the late 1740s when Presbyterian preachers from New York and New Jersey started proselytizing in the Virginia Piedmont. It also spread to central North Carolina and the surrounding colonies by the 1750s when some members of the Separate Baptists moved from New England. Notably, 10% of all southern churchgoers were evangelical converts by the eve of the American Revolution.

There were principle figures of the great awakening such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. These principle figures were the people who enabled the awakening to gain momentum because of their contributions. For instance, the revival gained momentum from the widespread American travels of George Whitefield, an English preacher. Though he was an ordained minister in the Church of England, Whitefield later joined other Anglican clergymen who shared his evangelical bent. These Anglican clergymen included people like John and Charles Wesley among others. In their efforts to reform the Church of England, the Methodist Church was as a result founded in the 18th Century.

After 1739, George Whitefield managed to preach everywhere in the American colonies in his numerous trips across the Atlantic. Most of his meetings were characterized by large audiences and he was soon obliged to preach outdoors. Nonetheless, although his sermons were largely centered on what other Calvinists had been preaching for centuries, Whitefield presented that message in narrative styles. Together with other American preachers who were eagerly imitating his style, Whitefield turned the sermon into a fascinating exaggerated performance.