Great Awakening Essay

It emerged during the same era as "Enlightenment" that seemed to focus on logic and reason as well as understanding the universe through the application of scientific laws. On the other hand, individuals seemed to go with the idea of a personal approach in relation to salvation, deviating from the church doctrine and dogma. "The Great Awakening" focused more on the personal, emotional, and spiritual connection with God for salvation. Thus, this study will explore “The Great Awakening” as a movement in an attempt to demonstrate what triggered the rise of the movement, its leaders, basic themes of the movement, and its significance in the American history. Enlightenment was becoming prominent as a philosophical movement starting from Europe across the American colonies in the 1700s.

Therefore, ministers used this opportunity to their advantage to explain the “Great Earthquake” as God’s punishment and rebuke in the connection to New England (Tracy, Ch. They cleverly tied this idea to the concept of the judgment day and the final hours of the world. This strategy seemed to work well for the movement as religious converts kept on increasing months afterward. Johnathan Edwards is said to be the core founder of the movement as most historians credit the idea of the “The Great Awakening” to him. In founding the “The Great Awakening,” Edward demonstrated based on his own understanding as an Anglican minister that humans had become sinful and God had become angry in the context of their sins.

Despite the fact that these leaders were from different backgrounds they projected messages that served the movement’s purpose. The major goal of the “Great Awakening” thus, included the idea of bringing the Christian faith to high awareness and make a comeback with the religion that once the people perceived as relevant among all social classes and economies. "The Great Awakening" emphasized the concept that all human beings were born sinners and without repentance in an attempt to gain salvation, sinners would burn in hellfires. Further, the messages of the movement focused on the idea that all humans had a chance to be saved, but only upon confessing and seeking God's forgiveness, grace, and acceptance for their sins. "The Great Awakening," increased the understanding of religion and God since it focused on teaching the masses that it is possible to have an emotional relationship with God.

New Light" is applied in the "Protestant Christian" grounds as they are used to describe two groups that were initially together during the beginning of the “First Great Awakening,” however later on come to a disagreement due to conflicting religious stand. The “New Light” believed in the idea of sin as well as atonement and support revivals as they were populated across the colonies. On the other hand, the “Old Light” saw this as a threat to those who were still practicing “Old Light. ” The “Old Lights” were into the idea of “Covenanters” as the “New Light” were more about personal salvation and criticized the “Old Light” of not adhering to the enormities (Bushman, 2005, 3-6). In other words, followers and preachers that subscribed to the introduced ideas about salvation during the "Great Awakening were regarded as "new lights.

Thus, people felt that their religion was missing some aspects due to the fact that it had grown too intellectual and as a result went after an emotional style of religion (Mays, 2004, 166-168). Economic change is yet another the other factor that historians have linked to the explanation of the "Second Awakening. " Charles Finney contributed as the leader of this movement as economic changes such as the launching of the “Erie Canal. ” As a result, the social ties among people that had initially been strengthened during the “First Great Awakening” became weak (Mays, 2004, 166-168). This made the people seek other alternatives that would help in making them emotionally active and close to their loved ones and the surrounding community. However, this awakening was unlike the other awakening based on the fact that real revivalism was in question in relation to manmade revivalism.

During this period, preachers did not depend on the “Holy Spirit” as the source of emotional fulfillment, but rather applied manmade strategies in an attempt to trigger emotional response while preaching. Despite the fact that the concept of “Revivalism” had gained prominence, its untrue nature resulted to its end. New York City is the place where the Third Great Awakening started with James Alexander standing on the opposing side regarding the strategies that were used to preach the gospel (Hileman, 2007, 2-5). His letters reflected this concept that the gospel was not effective for the people and the ministry had to come up with a different method of spreading the true gospel. This resulted in the splitting of large churches and also a large number of Protestant denominations experienced tremendous growth.

Thus, the old groups such as “Anglicans and Puritans” began to be more popular. The unifying drive that came as a result of social effect in connection to the gathering and sharing among Christians from different communities greatly contributed to bounding and national consciousness among people (Keller, Rosemary, Marie, 2006, 226-231). What greatly changed the idea of religion in this era is the fact that the monarch, as well as his bishops, were no longer relevant as the colonies believed that they had the power of interpreting the will of God. Also, the great awakening contributed to the growth of state rule that becomes implemented as a contract with the American people. However, despite the benefits that this concept had introduced, the awakening lead to the division among religious beliefs and practices between the South and North American colonies.