The term Great Awakening is used to refer to several periods of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century. Each of these Great Awakenings was characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, an increase in evangelical church membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations. First Great Awakening The First Great Awakening began in the 1730s and lasted to about 1743, though pockets of revivalism had occurred in years prior especially amongst the ministry of Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards grandfather. Edwards congregation was involved in a revival later called the Frontier Revivals in the mid-1730s. Ministers from various evangelical Protestant denominations supported the Great Awakening.[1] Additionally, pastoral styles began to change. In the late colonial period, most pastors read their sermons, which were theologically dense and advanced a particular theological argument or interpretation. The leaders of the Great Awakening, such as Jonathan Edwards, Gilbert Tennent and George Whitefield, had little interest in merely engaging parishioners intellects; rather, they sought a strong emotional response from their congregations that might yield the workings and experiential evidence of saving grace... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Awakening
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 16:58:36 +0000