Religion And Religious Piety In The First Great Awakening

Many historians would define “The First Great Awakening” as the regeneration of religion and religious piety that rose through the colonies of America in the 1700s. The revitalization was much bigger then just religion it could be considered a broad movement. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean an evangelical upsurge was taking place. In protestant cultures during the middle decades of the eighteenth century a new faith began to grow that would encounter the age of enlightenment it confirmed the correctness that in order to truly be religious it meant trusting the heart instead of the head. Treasuring feeling rather than actual thinking. It was basically relying more on biblical revelation instead of human thinking or human reason. American …show more content…
He refused to convert to the Church of England and would be concerned with New Englanders becoming too concerned with worldly matters (Ushistory.org.) In fact, to him it seemed as if the people found the pursuit of wealth more important than John Calvin’s religious principles (Ushistory.org.) People would begin to think that predestination was wrong and good works might save a soul. Jonathan Edwards would preach in such a manner that people would flock to listen. He spoke with so much fury and conviction, he declared, “ God was an angry judge, and humans were sinners!”(Ushistory.org.) Growing ideas of emotionalism over intellectualism was key in Jonathan Edwards’s beliefs. Learning religious history coming from only Edwards point of view emphasizes on the idea that true religion is rooted in affections not reason (Heyrman, Christine Leigh.). But is this idea the only way? If history is taught from only Edwards approach it could be assumed that yes this is the only way therefore it must be correct. But if history is taught from Edwards’s point of view and opposing views the concepts of what was assumed to be correct could potentially change for many. Learning American religion history from Whitefield’s point of view implies something different than Edwards’s …show more content…
George Whitefield would bring very much controversy and religious issues to the table. George became allied with Anglican clergymen who shared the same evangelical bent, with most notably Charles (Heyrman, Christine Leigh.).These people together would begin and a lead a movement to reform the Church of England and this movement resulted in the founding of the Methodist Church (Heyrman, Christine Leigh.) He converted some slaves and even some Native Americans. Even Ben Franklin who was a religious skeptic would empty his coin purse upon hearing George Whitefield speak (Ushistory.org.) When he came to the colonies his style of preaching was much different and some traditional clergy were bothered by it, because of his shouting and circumvolution, many ecclesiastic closed the doors of respectable English churches to Whitefield (Ushistory.org.). Due to this he took his messages outside. He would often preach in meadows at the edges of cities and was considered nothing less than sacrilege to the "proper" church folks of his day (Ushistory.org. ) Whitefield presented his message in novel ways and would preach nothing more than what Calvinists had been asserting for centuries now- that sinful men and women were completely dependent for salvation on the mercy of a pure, all-powerful God (Heyrman, Christine Leigh.). He had sensational crowds, as he would shout the word of God. He