The 2nd Great Awakening

Circa 1790’s – 1840’s

CHURCH HISTORY IICHURCH HISTORY IILesson 26Lesson 26

Apostolic Church

Apostolic Fathers

Church Councils

Church History

Ca. 30AD 590 AD 1517 AD

Golden Age of Church Fathers

Reformation & Counter Reformation

Rationalism, Revivalism, & Denominationalism

Revivalism, Missions, & Modernism

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Ancient Church History Medieval Church History Modern Church History

The Pre-Reformers

The First Medieval Pope

The Rise of the Holy Rom Emp

The Crusades

The Papacy in Decline

Four Periods of ‘Awakening’ Activity

I. The Great Awakening (1730’s-1750’s)

II. The 2nd Great Awakening (1790’s-1830”’s)

III. Prayer Meetings through New Pentecostalism (1857-1910’s)

IV. 1940’s – 1950’s Billy Graham

1720’s - The Middle Colonies

1730’s – The New England Colonies

1740 – 1750’s – The Southern Colonies

The 1st Great Awakening

The Great Awakening was a glorious work of God whereby He causeda period of intense spiritual revival and conversions that enlarged thechurch with true members and quickened them to Christian duty.

EVANGELICAL:•Authority of scripture•Necessity of new birth•Intent to spread the gospel•True conversion worked out in the believer’s life

Results of the Great Awakening

1. Conversions2. Increase in churches and church membership3. Increase awareness of the necessity of the new birth4. No tolerance for an unconverted minister5. Building of new evangelical schools:

Princeton

Dartmouth

Rutgers

Brown

6. Calvinism strengthened and preserved in American churches for another hundred years

POSITIVE:

View On “Old Lights” “New Lights”

Revival Anti Pro

Final authority ReasonBible as rule book

Bible is all and all!

Human Nature Basically good, needing education

Sinful needing conversion

JESUS Good moral teacher

Full Diety

Most important emphasis

Morality New Birth

Jonathan Edwards Charles Chauncy

America’s ‘two-party” religious system

Why did religious fervor fade after the 1st Great Awakening?

The Disruption of the American Revolution

The Rise of Deism & French Skepticism

The Scottish revivalist Thomas Chalmers had put it this way: "moonlight preaching ripens no harvest." Religion had become so tepid in the hands of rationalists like Chauncy and Deists like Jefferson, that it had almost no power to change the individual. Just enough of the old faith remained to inoculate people from catching the real thing.

Religious Freedom vs. Uniformity & Establishment

Western Migration

Mass Migration to the Continent

Why did religious fervor fade after the 1st Great Awakening?

The Disruption of the American Revolution

The Rise of English Deism & French Skepticism

The 2nd Great Awakening

East Coast Western Frontier New England

The East Coast

Colleges

Hampton- Sidney College – 1787, students pry for revival

Yale – 1802, Timothy Dwight

Princeton – 1813 Daniel Baker, Pry Mtg 1813 – 1815 40 converted

Harvard, Bowdin, Brown, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Williams, and Andover

Methodism

The Frontier

Logan, Ky - 1797

Camp Meeting

Cane Ridge, Ky - 1801

The Frontier

Logan, Ky - 1797

Cane Ridge - 1801

Methodist Circuit Riders

Camp Meeting

Presbyterian Split

The Cumberland Presbyterian ChurchThe Christian ChurchThe Church of Disciples

The Circuit Riders went after the frontier people.

Francis Ashbury/Peter Cartwright -

Peter Cartwright

Preached, not theological discourses or speculations,but sermons on hell.

His preaching was for thefrontier person who was not attracted to intellectualreligion, but emotionalfaith.

The Frontier

Logan, Ky - 1797

Cane Ridge - 1801

Methodist Circuit Riders

Baptist

Camp Meeting

Presbyterian Split

The Cumberland Presbyterian ChurchThe Christian ChurchThe Church of Disciples

The Circuit Riders went after the frontier people.

Francis Ashbury/Peter Cartwright -

Farmer/Sunday Preacher

New England

Asahel Nettleton

Charles Finney (1792-1875)

Important shift to revivalism as a technique and organized program.You can plan and announce revivals. “New Measures”

Lawyer turned evangelist

Surprising work of God vs. a planned event

Shift to Arminianism away from Calvinism

Social reform must become immediately apart of Christian life

Calvinistic Preacher

The Results of the 2nd Great Awakening

The American Revolution established a new context for the churches, in whichvoluntary patterns for survival and growth had to be established.

The Circuit Rider came into its own as an institution of the American frontier. These men rarely lived to reach middle age. Francis Asbury was the exception. Most died very young and were encouraged not to marry. While the personal price was high, this strategy of intinerating ministers allowed Methodists to direct resources to where settlements were occurring. This afforded a rapid response to population changes, permitting the Methodists to gather persons into a church, and move on. When the circuit rider would revisit--which he did with regularity--he would preach, as well as conduct weddings. A parallel development among Baptists was the ease with which a group of people could gather and call an articulate brother to serve as pastor. This person would farm during the week, and preach on weekends. What these men lacked in education, they made up in sincerity and earnestness, and closeness to his flock.

The Results of the 2nd Great Awakening

The Rise of revivalism – the idea that revivals could be planned.

The American Revolution established a new context for the churches, in whichvoluntary patterns for survival and growth had to be established.

Music and hymns came to be way congregations learned theology. In an environment where there were no opportunities for education, few books, and most did not know how to read, songs could be easily memorized. This was done through "lining" in which someone who could read would line out the song for the other congregants, who would then repeat it. Hymnody gave people a sense of theology in which Divine Providence looks after and cares for human kind. They also reflected the rising anthropology of the frontier. Where people once sang "Devote your sacred head for such a worm as I," the lyrics evolved to "Devote your sacred head for a wretch such as I," to "Devote your sacred head for one such as I." With each change, man's status gets better.

Where the First Great Awakening had been a spontaneous outpouring, the Second Great Awakening quickly became one that was promoted and organized. Techniques that worked were quickly copied such as the Camp Meeting or calling sinners in the congregation by their name.

The Results of the 2nd Great Awakening

The Rise of revivalism – the idea that revivals could be planned.

The American Revolution established a new context for the churches, in whichvoluntary patterns for survival and growth had to be established.

The Democratization of Christianity – Christian organizations based upon theindividual. Away from creeds, confessions. We will see divisions and the riseof denominations and para-church organizations.

The Decline of Calvinism – it will be replaced by Arminian Evangelization

The 2nd Great Awakening will delay the dissent into paganism