The Great
Awakening
Causes
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people less fervent (excited)
Puritan churches struggling
“dead dog” ministers
new ideas
What Was It?
• religious revival
• reaction against putting reason before God
• reaction against complacency
Major Figures
• Jonathan Edwards
o fire and brimstone
o Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
• George Whitefield
o toured the colonies (revivals)
o incited conversions
Results
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new denominations (Baptist, Methodist)
rivalry of “old lights” v. “new lights”
new colleges (Princeton, Dartmouth)
first mass movement in America