The 1 st Great Awakening Objective Interpret contributions

The 1 st Great Awakening Objective: Interpret contributions of various religious groups to civic principles

Puritan Life • A fundamental Puritan doctrine • God knows who is saved and who is damned, • God is omniscient and omnipotent (all-knowing and allpowerful) • Those who live virtuous lives • more successful on earth • more pious • more likely to be the Elect- those who will be saved • On the flip side, heathens, heretics, and criminals are considered more likely to be doomed What is the point of living a virtuous life? How would it change your outlook on life?

Puritan Life • Own what you need to make it • Puritans started to collect things they didn’t need • Became consumers and started to leave the Puritan way of life • Sound American? Which enlightened thinker proposed the event that the puritans were experiencing?

Great Awakening • In the early 1700 s. • “Revival: public church gatherings with hundreds of people. ” • Lots of Christian sermons and church meetings in the colonies • It changed life in the colonies • First “truly” American event during the colonial period How would a shared experience help or hurt the colonies?

Great Awakening • “Old Lights” were people who were following the traditions of the church • “New Lights” were people who were following the ideas of the Great Awakening (many were Baptists or Methodists) • Used emotional methods of sermon What would modern religion fall under?

Great Awakening • Belief that your good deeds will not get you into heaven • One farmer wrote that the sermon “…put me into a trembling fear. ” • People were afraid of going to hell

Great Awakening • The Great Awakening divided the colonists • Men and women who converted during the First Great Awakening had to go against traditions (Some churches split)

Great Awakening • Many women and African. Americans were “saved” during the Great Awakening (spiritual equality) • However, most revivals were separated by race

Jonathan Edwards • Puritan priest from New England • instrumental in the movement • Series of revivals aimed at • restoring devotion • piety • colonies in the mid-1700 s • Fire & Brimstone style of worship; • large, emotionally charged crowds • Like the Enlightenment movement stressed importance of the individual

Jonathan Edwards • Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. ” • (“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider…over the fire, abhors (hates) you…”) You are not religious enough! Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards • preached that God was outraged by human sin and that salvation could only be reached by penitence- all others would be damned

George Whitefield • Preached to thousands in barns, fields, and tents. • God was all – powerful • Only save those who professed their belief in the Savior • Common people could understand religion without religious official leadership

In Closing • In gods eyes all people are equal • Real person lies in personal behavior not class or money • Enlightenment – society based on hierarchy • Privileged class • People can follow religion on their own

In Closing • God = “benign creator” in the 18 th century • Dramatic changes in American religion from the 1730 -40 • Impact • Religion became emotionally based • Official clergy lost power • Created division within churches - those who supported it and those who did not • Increased diversity - led for increased calling for separation of church and state • Influence on politics • Increased unity because the colonists had now been through a common experience • Changed the popular view on authority (questioning of the clergy led to questioning of other authorities)