Great Awakening Essay
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Running head: GREAT AWAKENING ESSAY
Great Awakening Essay
This essay will examine the importance of the Great Awakening and its impact on the church. This was a religious revival in British North America, parts of Europe and England. It is of great significance and set the tone for evangelism and missionary spirit for about twenty years.
During the 1720 to 1740 period British North America experienced a religious revival that is now referred to as The Great Awakening Religious revival. This is related to a movement tied to Quietism or Pietism in Europe mostly driven by preachers like John Wesley. This was a Protestant evangelical response to rationalism and formalism. This movement had strong roots to Calvinist philosophy. Calvin, emphasized the omnipotence of God and the salvation of the elect by Gods grace alone. The preachers in this movement encouraged sinners to fear punishment as well as be inspired to accept the grace of God which they knew was unearned. (Eph 2 NIV) 8-10 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast (Shelley, B. 2008).
Among the great preachers of that time was George Whitefield (1714 – 1770). Whitefield was preaching to large crowds in the colonies that were inspired by his manner of preaching in 1740. Whitefield would enjoy his moment of triumph while has toured New England. He was welcomed by officials and ministers in towns and the country of the colonies. He was blessed by business people willing to close their shops to allow thousands of interested parties to listen to his sermons and speeches. George Whitefield was only 26 years old and some thought he was too young for this type of success. On his visit to Boston he found all meetinghouses except Kings Chapel open to him. He was “admired and followed beyond any man that ever was in America” as quoted from Benjamin Colman. Another great preacher was Jonathan Edwards who helped in this movement by inspiring people to the Great Awakening. Whitefield, the most famous of the itinerant ministers as he spoke to people gathered together in the thousands. Some meetings had as many as 15,000 listeners attending in an open air environment at Boston and Philadelphia. There were controversies regarding these events. The message was often an emotional delivery that included a desperate need for the “New Birth” of the conversion experience. The presses were running nonstop with articles both favorable and condemning. Congregations and denominations divided into Old Light and New Light, Old Side and New Side (Noll, M. 2000).
Although The Great Awakening Religious revival was presented by men, it was God and the Holy Scriptures that inspired the delivers and those that wanted to receive the message. It was a new message with emphasis on a personal religion. This great event in New England inflamed by men like Jonathan Edwards caused a remarkable number of new Baptists and also had a hand in shaping modern Unitarianism (Strong 1836-1921).
Other men were involved in this great effort. Gilbert Tennent 1703-64, was an American Presbyterian clergyman, a leading preacher of the Great Awakening. His family moved to Pennsylvania