the Great Awakening
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| the Great Awakening | |
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| Name | the Great Awakening |
| Period | 1730s–1770s |
| Region | British America, British Isles, Continental Europe |
| Type | Religious revival movement |
the Great Awakening was a series of transatlantic revivalism movements during the mid-18th century that reshaped Protestantism across British America, the British Isles, and parts of Continental Europe. It involved itinerant preachers, intense sermons, and new patterns of church affiliation that affected figures and institutions from Jonathan Edwards to John Wesley and from Harvard to Princeton University. The movement intersected with contemporaneous developments such as the Enlightenment, the Seven Years' War, and colonial political formation.
Background and Origins
The movement emerged amid changes in colonial society following the Glorious Revolution, the rise of mercantilism policies under the Board of Trade (England), and intellectual currents from Isaac Newton and John Locke. Early revival impulses drew on earlier pietistic currents associated with Philipp Spener, August Hermann Francke, and the Pietist networks in Halle, which influenced missionaries connected to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and the Moravian Church. Transatlantic correspondence among clerics at Yale University, Dartmouth College, and King's College, New York transmitted sermonic models developed by preachers linked to Wesleyanism and Methodism in Oxford University and the Holy Club (Oxford). The demographic shifts produced by migrations such as the Great Migration (Puritan) and settlements in New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia created audiences receptive to itinerant preaching promoted by networks that included the Evangelical Revival and the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.
Key Figures and Leaders
Prominent leaders included New England theologian Jonathan Edwards, itinerant Presbyterian revivalist George Whitefield, Anglican evangelist John Wesley, and Moravian bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf. Other influential ministers and organizers encompassed Samuel Davies, Gilbert Tennent, William Tennent, Charles Wesley, Samuel Hopkins, James Davenport, Jonathan Mayhew, Ethan Allen, and Phillis Wheatley as a poet influenced by evangelical themes. Institutional patrons and opponents comprised administrators at Harvard College, trustees at Princeton University (College of New Jersey), clergy associated with the Church of England, and lay leaders in assemblies such as the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Massachusetts General Court.
Theology and Religious Practices
Revival theology emphasized experiential conversion narratives articulated in sermons that traced doctrinal lines to Calvinism, Arminianism, and Methodism. Preachers employed biblical texts from the King James Bible and theological categories found in works by John Calvin, Arminius, and Thomas à Kempis. Ritual and practice included public conversions, "seeking" meetings reminiscent of Quaker assemblies, itinerant open-air preaching similar to practices at Wesleyan field meetings, and spiritual disciplines propagated by Pietist circles. The movement influenced catechesis at institutions such as Dartmouth College and shaped worship patterns in congregations linked to Congregationalism, Presbyterianism, and Anglicanism.
Regional Variations and Chronology
The revival unfolded differently across regions: in New England (early 1730s–1740s) the movement centered on revivals in towns like Northampton, Massachusetts and Boston; in the mid-Atlantic colonies (1740s–1750s) it spread through itinerants traveling the corridor between Philadelphia and New York City; in the southern colonies (1750s–1760s) it adapted to plantation societies in Virginia and South Carolina. In the British Isles, revival phases at Wesleyan Methodist chapels and the Evangelical Revival paralleled American developments. Continental episodes connected to Pietism and the Moravian Church influenced missionary outreach in Georgia (U.S. state) and among native communities near Philadelphia. Chronological markers include George Whitefield’s 1739 itinerancies, the 1740–1742 waves of revival in New England, and renewed evangelical organization during the 1760s and 1770s as seen in bodies like the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge.
Social and Political Impacts
The revival affected social institutions and political cultures by promoting voluntary associations, literacy initiatives, and missionary enterprises linked to groups like the Moravian Church, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and emerging missionary societies. It reshaped higher education through the founding and transformation of Princeton University, Brown University, Rutgers University, and Dartmouth College. Revivalist emphases on individual conscience intersected with debates in colonial legislatures such as the Virginia General Assembly and with legal frameworks shaped by cases in courts connected to the British legal system. The movement also influenced African American religious life, contributing to the formation of congregations that would later affiliate with institutions like the African Methodist Episcopal Church and leaders such as Richard Allen.
Criticism, Controversies, and Decline
Controversies involved accusations of emotional excess, factionalism, and challenges to established clerical authority as seen in disputes featuring presbyteries, vestries, and academic faculties at Harvard and Yale University. Critics included conservative clergy associated with Anglican Church structures and civic authorities in ports like Boston and New York City. Debates produced schisms exemplified by conflicts among pastors like John Eliot’s successors and legal disputes echoing cases in the Court of King's Bench. The intensity of revivals declined after the 1760s with changing religious fashions, the professionalization of clergy, and the disruptions of the American Revolutionary War.
Legacy and Influence on American Religion
The movement left lasting effects on denominational landscapes, contributing to the rise of Methodism, the reconfiguration of Presbyterianism, and evangelical currents within Baptist life. It fostered institutional innovations including missionary societies, voluntary associations, and new seminaries linked to Princeton Theological Seminary and Andover Theological Seminary. Its cultural impact resonated through figures in later reform movements such as Charles Finney, William Wilberforce, Lyman Beecher, Horace Mann, and in social reforms involving abolitionism linked to Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. The revival’s patterns of lay participation and itinerant ministry continued to shape American Protestantism into the 19th century, influencing denominational politics around elections in bodies like the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and civic movements connected to the Second Great Awakening.
Category:Religious revivals