What were the Great Awakenings?
The Great Awakenings were a series of spiritual revivals that took place during the 1700s-1800s across the American Colonies and Great Britain. They were marked by intense evangelical revivals, in an effort by Protestant ministers to reignite passion for the Gospel. The Awakenings were also a response to the Enlightenment ideas such as of Deism and rationalism. Although many similar trends occurred across Europe and Great Britain during the same time periods, I will focus this blog post more on the American experience with these movements, specifically concentrating on the First Great Awakening.
When did it happen?
The First Great Awakening impacted the American colonies and Great Britain during the 1730s and 1740s, although evangelical revival had begun during the 1720s in Continental Europe with the Moravian Church and the principles of pietism.
**The Second Great Awakening began around the late 1790s to early 1800s, and lasted roughly four decades. Similar renewals in religious fervor occurred across Europe at the same time, although the term Second Great Awakening typically focuses on the American experience of revivals during this period.
Where did it take place?
The First Great Awakening had stirrings as early as the late seventeenth century in New England. By the 1720s, Presbyterian pastor Gilbert Tennent and his two brothers were seeing significant signs of revival in their New Jersey congregation, fueled by the emerging theology concerning the need for personal conversion experiences and then a life demonstrating that salvation. From New Jersey and the surrounding colonies, the revivals spread to the Middle Colonies before reaching the Carolinas and Georgia.
One interesting difference between the First and Second Great Awakening, among others (my next post perhaps?), were the areas in which they originated. Whereas the First Great Awakening had roots in New England, the Second Great Awakening began in the southern region, in the states of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Who were the major players?
Along with Gilbert Tennent, mentioned above, there were numerous leaders of the Great Awakening movements who influenced the revivals and the theology of the period. Before the term Great Awakening was coined, Jonathan Edwards called the evangelical movement “The Revival of Religion” (Tracy 4). Edwards was one of the most prominent figures of the First Great Awakening, preaching fiery sermons such as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to a responsive Congregationalist audience. Edwards pastored his flock for over sixty years, also serving as a missionary to Native American tribes around New England. This powerful preacher encouraged renewed religious vitality, and often spoke of God’s divine sovereignty and providence. In his “Sinners” sermon, Edwards warned his congregation of God’s view towards a lackadaisical spiritual attitude. “Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth, yea, doubtless with many that are now in this congregation, that is may be are at ease and quiet, than he is with many of those that are now in the flames of Hell” (Edwards 5).
Two other incredibly influential preachers of the First Great Awakening were Samuel Davies and George Whitefield. Davies was adamant about the obligation to spread the gospel, not only to white Protestant families, but also to slaves and indentured servants. Davies suggested that a comprehension of the Bible was necessary for the true understanding of the Gospel, and that comprehension could only occur if slaves and indentured servants were taught to read. Whitefield was a British evangelist who held revivals from New York to Georgia, and everywhere in between, drawing crowds of thousands to open air meetings. The itinerant (or a travelling Christian evangelist) was a genius in his use of a combination of promotional tools and rhetoric, with the result of thousands of attendees at his revivals, regular newspaper reports on his activities, and a general appreciation of his abilities by even the most skeptical of Deists such as Benjamin Franklin.
Why does it matter?
So why does the Great Awakening matter? What permanent effect did it have? These questions can be broadly answered by looking at the religious and political consequences of the Awakening. On the religious front, the movement created fractures within several prominent denominations. Both the Congregationalist and the Presbyterian churches, two founding denominations in the colonies, experienced divisions over theology. Other denominations grew abundantly during the Great Awakenings, creating awareness for the need of religious freedom laws. Joseph Tracy observes, “A considerable number of Separatist Churches was formed, which really added to the strength of the Redeemer’s kingdom…There was an increase known to be considerable, to the Baptist churches of New England” (Tracy 390). The revivals also prompted a focus on missions, both for Native Americans as well as slaves and indentured servants.
Along with an enduring religious legacy, the First Great Awakening also had significant influence on the ideology of liberty and colonial independence. There exists a clear correlation between revival emphases on individual liberty and religious freedom, and the American Revolution ideology of political independence and certain inherent rights. The Awakening also influenced the Revolution by creating stronger inter-colonial networks, and by weakening authority structures. The American colonists shared a common experience through the Great Awakening, forming new networks and communications through the trans-colonial revival circuits.
**See my future blog post concerning the Second Great Awakening in America, and how it differs from the First.
Edwards, Jonathan. A narrative of many surprising conversions in Northampton and vicinity : written in 1736, together with some thoughts on the revival in New England, written in 1740 : to which is added an account to the conversion of the author. Worchester: Moses W. Grout, 1832. Sabin America.
Lambert, Frank. ""Pedlar in Divinity": George Whitefield and the Great Awakening, 1737-1745." The Journal of American History 77, no. 3 (1990): 812-37. JStor.
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God": A Casebook, edited by Kimnach Wilson H., Maskell Caleb J. D., and Minkema Kenneth P., 33-50. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2010. JStor.
Tracy, Joseph. The Great Awakening : A History of the Revival of Religion in the time of Edwards and Whitefield. Boston: Charles Tappan, 1845.
