Why do we need another Great awakening? When I think of an Awakening, even after our class, my mind immediately goes to images of eighteenth century revivalists like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, Jereena Lee and a large constellation of other preaching giants of yesteryear. These men and women created a legacy of spiritual fervor which has earned them a place in the annals of American religious history. Their effectiveness as preachers of the word and proclaimers of truth permeated a nation’s consciousness and snatched the nation from spiritual decline.
Several questions arise as I think of the Awakenings of years past. My first question is whether our nation is as spiritually receptive of an Awakening as it was two hundred years ago. My second question arises out of pure intimidation at the prospect of preaching a great awakening. I ponder inwardly; can the power of the Great Awakening be duplicated ever again? Are the conditions of the nation such that there needs to be spiritual renewal? There is a variety of potential issues which a Great Awakening can speak too.
William McLaughlin notes in his book Revivals, Awakenings and Reform that there have been several “Awakenings” in American religious history ,and that not all of these moments of renewal resembled the fiery preaching frenzies of the famed eighteenth century. Each “Awakening” had at its core a specific issue it was addressing. The issues in question could be spiritual declension (first Great Awakening), national back-sliding (second Great Awakening), biblical interpretation and liberalism (third Great Awakening), or American identity and progressivism (fourth Great Awakening). Thus, it is perhaps my own limitations that bristle at the idea of preaching the n...
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...ting and preaching. I think that claiming one’s unique voice and message is the key to joining the Great Awakening movement. People are transformed by encounters with the genuine. I hope to be the vessel that is truly me and truly what God wants for me to be.
For me the next steps are full time pastoral ministry. God willing, I will have a congregation of my own. I look forward to the pastorate because in my heart I know that is where I think the most transformative and world changing aspects of my ministry will occur. I look forward to awakening people’s lives with the Gospel. I look forward to joining a community and growing in faith together. I am excited because God has anointed me to preach good news. And the good news is this; all of God’s children have a stake in God’s transformational work. We are all anointed to preach good news. It is time to get ready.
1) Jonathan Edwards delivered this sermon during the first Great Awakening, a time of religious revival in Europe and America. During the Great Awakening, christianity shifted its focus from ceremonies and rituals, and began to realign itself with introspection to encourage fostering a deep sense of morality and redemption. Edwards was a key preacher and minister that delivered many sermons preaching about revival and reformed theology.
Edwards died roughly 20 years before the American Revolution, which means he was a British subject at birth and death. Edwards believed that religion is tied to nations and empires, and that revivals were necessary in history. Edwards’ belief in revivals began what is known as The Great Awakening. Edwards’ purpose in ministry was the preaching that God is sovereign, but also loving towards his creation. Since God is sovereign, Edwards claimed that God worked through revolutions and wars to bring the message of the gospel (Marsden, Jonathon Edwards, 4, 9, 197). Edwards’ most known sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was preached to revive the demoralized congregations. The congregations of New England had low memberships within different churches, and competition from denominational pluralism was stagnant (Lukasik, 231). Getting the colonists to return back to God was the mission and purpose of The Great Awakening. Through this, Edwards hoped that this movement will foster a great increase in learning about God (Marsden, Jonathon Edwards,
All of this is what opened the doors into the Great Awakening. The actual Great Awakening movement itself was set off in the 1730s by Jonathan Edwards and his firm beliefs. He believed strongly in good works being the way to eternal happiness. He also believed that unbaptized children were sent to hell. This belief of his went so far that he claimed that hell was “paved with the skulls of unbaptized children.” Edwards had the sympathies of many people who attended his parish, as well as other people.
The Second Great Awakening began in 1790, as numerous Americans experienced uncertainty as they confronted a rapidly changing society with increases in urbanization and technology. The movement focused on the ability of individuals to change their lives as a means of personal salvation and as a way to reform society as a whole, which opened the door for many reform movements. The Second Great Awakening shaped reform movements such as temperance, abolition, and women’s rights in the nineteenth century because of the increase in concern for the morality of the American people.
The Great Awakening was a spiritual movement that began in the 1730’s in the middle colonies. It was mostly led by these people; Jonathan Edwards, a congregational pastor in Massachusetts, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Byterian Pastor in New Jersey; Gilbert Tennent, a Presbyterian Pastor in New Jersey; and George Whitefield, a traveling Methodist Preacher from New England. The most widely known leader was George Whitefield. At the beginning of the very first Great Awakening appeared mostly among Presbyterians in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey. The Presbyterians initiated religious revivals during these times. During this time, they also started a seminary to train clergyman. The seminary’s original name was Log College, now it is known as Princeton University. In the 1740s the clergymen of these churches were conducting revivals throughout that area. The Great Awakening spread from the Presbyterians of the middle colonies to the Congregationalist (puritans) and Baptist of New England.
People of all groups, social status, and gender realized that they all had voice and they can speak out through their emotional feels of religion. Johnathan Edwards was the first one to initiate this new level of religion tolerance and he states that, “Our people do not so much need to have their heads filled than, as much as have their hearts touched.” Johnathan Edwards first preach led to more individuals to come together and listen. Than after that individual got a sense that you do not need to be a preacher to preach nor you do not need to preach in a church, you can preach wherever you want to. For the first time, you have different people coming together to preach the gospel. You had African American preaching on the roads, Indian preachers preaching and you had women who began to preach. The Great Awakening challenged individuals to find what church meets their needs spiritually and it also let them know about optional choices instead of one. The Great Awakening helped the American colonies come together in growth of a democratic
He was a man whose very words struck fear into the hearts of his listeners. Acknowledged as one of the most powerful religious speakers of the era, he spearheaded the Great Awakening. “This was a time when the intense fervor of the first Puritans had subsided somewhat” (Heyrmen 1) due to a resurgence of religious zeal (Stein 1) in colonists through faith rather than predestination. Jonathan Edwards however sought to arouse the religious intensity of the colonists (Edwards 1) through his preaching. But how and why was Edwards so successful? What influenced him? How did he use diction and symbolism to persuade his listener, and what was the reaction to his teachings? In order to understand these questions one must look at his life and works to understand how he was successful. In his most influential sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Jonathan Edwards’ persuasive language awakened the religious fervor that lay dormant in colonial Americans and made him the most famous puritan minister of the Great Awakening in North America.
The Second Great Awakening swept through the United States during the end of the 18th Century. Charles Grandson Finney was one of the major reasons the Second Great Awakening was such a success. Finney and his contemporaries rejected the Calvinistic belief that one was predetermined by go God to go to heaven or hell, and rather preached to people that they need to seek salvation from God themselves, which will eventually improve society has a whole. Finney would preach at Revivals, which were emotional religious meetings constructed to awaken the religious faith of people. These meetings were very emotional and lasted upwards of five days. Revivalism had swept through most of the United States by the beginning of the 19th Century. One of the most profound revivals took place in New York. After the great revival in New York Charles Finney was known ...
In the early 1700's spiritual revivalism spread rapidly through the colonies. This led to colonists changing their beliefs on religion. The great awakening was the level to which the revivalism spread through the colonists. Even with this, there was still religious revivalism in the colonies. One major reason for the Great Awakening was that it was not too long before the revolution. The great awakening is reason to believe that William G Mcloughlin's opinion and this shows that there was a cause to the American Revolution.
The Great Awakening was a superior event in American history. The Great Awakening was a time of revivalism that expanded throughout the colonies of New England in the 1730’s through the 1740’s. It reduced the importance of church doctrine and put a larger significance on the individuals and their spiritual encounters. The core outcome of the Great Awakening was a revolt against controlling religious rule which transferred over into other areas of American life. The Great Awakening changed American life on how they thought about and praised the divine, it changed the way people viewed authority, the society, decision making, and it also the way they expressed themselves. Before the Great Awakening life was very strict and people’s minds were
Speeches functioned as great tools for inspiring and motivating people. A passionate and charismatic speaker could often change a group of people’s view of the world with just a short speech. A perfect example of this phenomenon can be seen in the leaders of religious groups such as Matthias and Joseph Smith. These two men both possessed the ability to make people pi...
In the North we saw a different religious awakening. Reform was popping up all over the Northeast. This reform came in different faces, depending on which state it wa...
Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, spoke out to eight clergymen about why not standing with him during this time of discrimination is ultimately an unwise choice if they want to consider themselves “men of God.” Likewise, Jonathan Edwards, one of the most powerful and persuasive Puritan preachers, spoke out to everyone in the countless communities he visited to convince them that it is vital to recommit their life to God. Both MLK and Edwards pieces are effective. An effective piece is a piece that keeps a single focus and successfully convinced an audience to adopt the author's point of view. MLK and Edwards share a sophisticated use of the same techniques to persuade
Martin, Wendy, ed. "Introduction." New Essays on The (Awakening. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, transcends societal structures and expectations. It deals with the day-to-day realities that a woman must face if she is to progress to full maturation and become at peace with herself and the world. Set in turn-of-the-century Creole New Orleans, it addresses the relentless strength and courage required for a woman to remain true to her convictions. Most studies of The Awakening focus on Edna Pontellier's newly emerged awareness and struggle against the societal forces that repress her. However, they ignore the weaknesses in Edna that prevented her from achieving the personal autonomy that she glimpsed during her periods of "awakening." The character of Edna Pontellier, therefore, is also an insightful study of the weaknesses that prevent a woman of any era from progressing toward self actualization.