The Great Awakening Revivals In American History
Bernard Pyron
https://www.thoughtco.com/great-awakening-of-early-18th-cen…
"The Great Awakening of 1720-1745 was a period of intense religious revivalism that spread throughout the American colonies."
"There was a feeling among believers that established religion had become complacent. This new movement emphasized an emotional, spiritual, and personal relationship with God."
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John 3: 6-8
Romans 12: 2 says "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Transformed is a translation of μεταμορφουσθε, or metamorphosthe - a metamorphosis, "a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one."
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." II Corinthians 5: 17
Galatians 6: 15-16 says "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."
Then, Colossians 1: 26-27 tells us "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:"
The hope of glory is to have Jesus Christ in you.
These New Testament scriptures quoted above emphasize spiritual transformation by the Holy Spirit in Christ and him in you. They also emphasize a personal relationship with Christ.
The individual is raised up by Christ, and there is not an emphasis upon the collective, the church. There is also not an emphasis upon the issues of a systematic church theology such as arguments over the idea that God now has two peoples, Old Covenant Israel and the Church.
"By the early 18th century, the New England theocracy clung to a medieval concept of religious authority."
"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." I Peter 5: 2-3
In the Roman Catholic Church, the clergy class ruled over the beliefs of the congregations, and also over their behavior to some extent.
The quote above about the New England theocracy clinging to a medieval religious authority implies that the Protestant Puritan Church in New England had come to a point in which it was not following I Peter 5: 2-3, but the Clergy class was acting as lords over God's heritage.
"The Great Awakening movement divided longstanding denominations such as the Congregational and Presbyterian churches and created an opening for new evangelical strength in Baptists and Methodists. That began with a series of revival sermons from preachers who were either not associated with mainstream churches, or who were diverging from those churches.
Most scholars date the beginning of the revival era of the Great Awakening to the Northampton revival which began in the church of Jonathan Edwards in 1733. Edwards gained the post from his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who had exercised a great deal of control over the community from 1662 until his death in 1729. By the time Edwards took the pulpit, though, things had slipped; licentiousness prevailed particularly with young people. Within a few years of Edward's leadership, the young people by degrees "left off their frolics" and returned to spirituality.
Edwards who preached for close to ten years in New England emphasized a personal approach to religion. He bucked the Puritan tradition and called for an end to intolerance and unity among all Christians. His most famous sermon was "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," delivered in 1741. In this sermon, he explained that salvation was a direct result of God and could not be attained by human works as the Puritans preached."
Another leader of the Great Awakening was George Whitefield. He traveled and preached at many different churches - and spread the Great Awakening around the Colonies. Whitefield was probably the model for the Circuit Riding preachers who were to come on the American Frontier.
"The orthodox Puritan colonies were societies of status and subordination, with the ranks of men arranged in strict hierarchies. Lower classes were subservient and obedient to a class of spiritual and governing elite, made up of upper-class gentlemen and scholars. The church saw this hierarchy as a status that was fixed at birth, and the doctrinal emphasis was placed on the depravity of (common) man, and the sovereignty of God as represented by his church leadership."
"While a great unifier among the people living in the American colonies, this wave of religious revivalism did have its opponents. Traditional clergy asserted that it fomented fanaticism and that the emphasis on extemporaneous preaching would increase the number of uneducated preachers and downright charlatans."
The Great Awakening unified the American colonies and contributed to the Protestant culture of individual freedom and of individual rights given by God - as in Isaiah 10: 1-2.
See:
http://greatawakening.blogspot.com/…/prophecy-for-appalachi…
"The Second Great Awakening in 1801 exploded in all its divine glory in The Second Great Awakening in 1801 exploded in all its divine glory in Appalachia at a Scots - Irish Presbyterian communion service at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. In this backwoods log church, one-tenth of the population of Kentucky came by foot, wagon and horseback to the astonishment of the pastor of the church, Barton Stone. Between 20,000 to 30,000 not only came but stayed for seven days! Even the Governor of Kentucky attended. at a Scots - Irish Presbyterian communion service at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. In this backwoods log church, one-tenth of the population of Kentucky came by foot, wagon and horseback to the astonishment of the pastor of the church, Barton Stone. Between 20,000 to 30,000 not only came but stayed for seven days! Even the Governor of Kentucky attended."
The Great Awakening broke down denominational and sectional divisions in American Colonial society. creating a greater sense of common American cultural and theological identity.
And the Great Awakening moved Americans closer to a united single religious view, which was a Protestant view with emphasis upon the individual with his God-given rights and freedoms. This more unified Protestant view and culture existed in the United States to a great extent until it began to be weakened by Transformational Marxist ideologies, not called Marxist, which might be dated from the publication of the book, The Authoritarian Personality in 1950 by Frankfurt School Theodor Wiesengrund; Adorno.
Adorno was not the only original Frankfurter School Marxist to be given a post in a major American University. Herbert Marcuse was an original Frankfurter School Transformational Marxist who held forth from Brandeis University. Theodor W. Adorno promoted his Marxism from the University of California at Berkeley. And so Transformational Marxism, not called Marxism, but sometimes called "Critical Theory" has been promoted in America by the major universities since 1950. Transformational Marxism, called the New Left, was part of the Counterculture, especially of the Counterculture during the seventies.
One of the founders of the Frankfurt School of Transformational Marxism, Georg Lukacs, talked about "Abolishment of Culture." Lukacs knew that Christianity had created a dominant culture in the West which made the individual important and that culture saw each individual as being unique, to be honored as such.
The Great Awakening Revivals of the 18th century had helped to create a unified American Protestant religion which stressed the individual and his rights and freedoms.
But that Protestant Individualism was exactly what made it very difficult to establish Marxist collectivism and totalitarian government in the United States. Marxism had to get rid of that Christian - and family based - culture which made the individual outstanding, and replace it by a collectivist group oriented culture. Marxism - Transformational Marxism - had to reduce the spiritual power of the Christian Gospel in order to bring in a collectivist group-centered culture. The spiritual power of the Gospel of Christ was shown in the revivals of the Great Awakening.
And so church theologies which could diminish to some extent the spiritual power of the Gospel to change people might help set the stage for an influence from Marxism in the U.S.
In the history of the American Frontier the Scots-Irish played a role in helping to create the religion and culture of the Great Awakening and also to help create the unique American Birthright.