The First Great Awakening

1. The FirstGreat Awakening • Religious Revival (1730s-1740s) • EMOTIONAL “Fire and Brimstone” Preaching • Calvinist-influenced • Human sinfulness inherent • Social Divisions Edwards

2. Questions to consider • Why were colonists responsive to the preaching of Whitefield, Edwards, and others? • Why were churches (including ministers) ready to adopt a more evangelical approach? • What were the social, economic, and political conditions that might have had an impact on people at this time?

3. What was the Awakening? • A series of religious evangelical revivals • Led by itinerant preachers • Emphasis on personal faith (instead of conformity to doctrine) • Taught “new birth” – religious experience – inspired by the “Word of God” • Spiritual conversion – reject sinful past – “born again” Emotional – weeping, fainting . . . Not formal, traditional worship of the past (emphasis on the individual, reliance on experience instead of authority, and mistrust of tradition)

4. The Important preachers • Theodore Freylinghuysen • William and Gilbert Tennant • **Jonathan Edwards • **George Whitefield

5. Jonathan Edwards • Northampton, Mass - Only son (10 sisters) – father was a preacher • Took over the church – published A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God – an account of the extraordinary religious revival beginning in 1734 – considered the harbinger of the Great Awakening • Published Religious Affections – defended and criticized the movement • He is considered one of America’s most important, most original philosophical theologians • (Was appointed president of Princeton University in 1758, but died of smallpox

6. Jonathan Edwards • Most famous sermon – • “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” • Filled with imagery – religious belief • Best known, but not typical of Edwards

7. George Whitefield • Born in England – to America to preach (7 trips) • Extremely popular – 1739 preached to 30,000 in Philadelphia • Lively – dramatic – passionate • Spoke out against established churches – preached about the spirituality of American slaves (spiritual freedom) • Traveled form Georgia to New England – delivered over 18,000 sermons • Admired by Benjamin Franklin

8. George Whitefield (1714-1770) One of the greatest evangelists (Popularity compared to George Washington) Resonating voice – theatrical presentation – emotional stimulation – message simplification – clever exploitation techniques **Compared to modern televangelists

9. Opponents – “Old Lights” Claimed evangelicalism distorted the gospel – Symbolism – imp pouring inspiration in his ear – grotesque Fame listens Devil raking in money below the podium **lower left – followers proposition a prostitute – the caption reads “Their Hearts to lewd Whoring extend”

10. Eulogy – poem by 17 year-old slave – Phillis Wheatley Will be freed – acclaimed as the “African poetess” (1st published black woman)

11. 1st Great Awakening legacy • Lasted only a generation • Legacy of theological disputes and divisions • Creation of new colleges – Princeton, Brown, Rutgers – to train “New Light” ministers • Ministry spread to the Southern colonies – Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches emerge • Estimate – 75-80% of colonist were church members

12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt57rFcpnr4 • Great Awakening - - - - - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-dk4-HBNWQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTDL8YrlIvg New for redesign

13. NYC - 1730

14. NYC - 1771

16. The Age of Enlightment (Reason) Its purpose was to reform society using reason, challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and advance knowledge through the scientific method

17. The “Enlightenment” influenced Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson - - - it played a major role in the American Revolution Great emphasis on liberty, democracy, republicanism, and religious tolerance

18. John Locke – the Father of Classical Liberalism His “Enlightment” thinking influenced the American Revolutionaries – His liberal theory is reflected in the Declaration of Independence ( one passage from the Second Treatise is reproduced verbatim – the reference to a "long train of abuses.“) Tabula rasa – the mind is a blank slate – we are what we experience – sensations and reflections the sources of ideas

19. In his Second Treatise he argues that the individual ownership of goods and property is justified by the labor exerted to produce goods beneficial to human society. Locke’s political theory is based on social contract - everyone had a natural right to defend his “Life, health, Liberty, or Possessions“ Locke believed in a separation of powers in government (influenced the Constitution) Religion - Although Locke was an advocate of tolerance, he urged the authorities not to tolerate atheism, because the denial of God's existence would undermine the social order and lead to chaos

20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjIwkvhGsoo John Locke

21. Thomas Paine Enlightenment Philosopher Enlgishman to America in 1774 with Benjamin Franklin Published – Common Sense (1776) – “best selling” book advocating Independence from Britain The American Crisis (1776-83) – Revolutionary pamphlet series

22. “Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.” – John Adams Was a Deist – Of the Religion of Deism Compared with the Christian Religion

23. Questions to consider • Why were colonists responsive to the preaching of Whitefield, Edwards, and others? • Why were churches (including ministers) ready to adopt a more evangelical approach? • What were the social, economic, and political conditions that might have had an impact on people at this time?