The Great Awakening
1730s-1740s
What was the Great Awakening?
George Whitefield preaching
•Religious revival
movement
•Evangelicism –
“new birth”
considered the
ultimate religious
experience
•Followers
accepted that they
were sinners and
asked for
salvation
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• increase in the number of people going to church.
• democratization of Christianity which meant that
everyone has a chance at salvation
• Religion is something of the people
• ordinary lay people become preachers
• they stress the equality of all people & attack
religious & political leaders who had great wealth
and power
• challenge authority
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Do college students go to
church?
LifeWay Research Finds
Reasons 18- to 22-Year-Olds
Drop Out of Church
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Before the Great Awakening
•Before the 1730s, most colonies had two
established religions.
•Congregationalism was the largest
religion in New England (Puritans and other
dissidents who broke away from the Church
of England).
•Anglicanism was the largest religion in
New York and the Southern colonies (same
as the Church of England).
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Old Lights vs. New Lights
•Churches that grew as a result of the Great
Awakening: Presbyterianism, Methodism,
Baptism (New Lights)
•Great Awakening challenged authority and
hierarchy of established churches (Old
Lights: Congregationalists and Anglicans)
•Great Awakening said that anybody could
be converted and born again. You didn’t
need traditional church leadership to decide
whether or not you belonged.
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How does this relate to the
American Revolution?
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Leaders of the Great Awakening
George Whitefield
Jonathan Edwards
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Central Historical Question:
Why was George Whitefield so
popular?