The Great Awakening

Religion Softens

• Religious fanaticism had died down by 1700

• Most active attendance at church was female

• Most settlers had little to no access to organized religion

Response to the Enlightenment• European intellectual movement • Favored a return to ancient philosophy (Greeks &

Romans)• Emphasized rationalism over emotionalism or

spirituality• REASON OVER FAITH

Response to Enlightenment• Between 1730-1760

(1720s-1740s) a religious revival occurred, probably as a response to the Enlightenment

• Started in Europe, quickly spread to the colonies

• Started by traditional churches in an attempt to invigorate and increase membership

Keys to Great Awakening

• Large revival meetings began with itinerant preachers often criticizing the traditional churches

• “New Light” preachers often attracted large crowds due to their speaking ability

• By emphasizing the power of an emotional connection and personal inspiration from God, religious fervor spread across the colonies (first in New England and traveling south)

Itinerant Preachers• Jonathan Edwards

(Congregationalist)• Preached a severe,

predetermined doctrines of Calvinism

• Famous for his fiery, graphic descriptions of Hell

• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or someloathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towardsyou burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into thefire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times soabominable in his eyes as the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours…there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you don’t this very moment drop down into hell.

Johnathan Edwards, Sinners in the hands of an Angry God

Itinerant Preachers

• George Whitefield (Methodist)• Based sermons on

emotion & spirituality (like Southern Evangelicals of today)

• Came over from England and was key in bringing the Great Awakening to the colonies

Effects of the Great Awakening on

Religion in America

• Increased religious fervor in the colonies

• Weakened organized religion

• Religious services changed dramatically with the addition of emotional public admissions of sin and sinners being “saved” in front of the congregation

Effects of Great Awakening on the American Colonies

• First time colonists from all 13 colonies shared a common experience

• Affected all the colonies regardless of social class, national origin, or occupation

• New sects and divisions with the Protestant faith arose: Baptists and Methodists

First “American” Experience!!!

Effects of Great Awakening on the American Colonies (cont.)

• Demand for “New Light” ministers led to increased need for Dartmouth, Rutgers, Princeton, Brown, Harvard, and Yale

• Emotional and personal connection with God came to define the American form of worship

• The questioning of religious leadership led many to question political leadership next

Effects of Great Awakening on

Slavery

• Brought Christianity to slaves

• Began Abolitionism (especially in North)

• Coincided with founding of Great Awakening faiths like the Methodists and Baptists (most common slave denominations)