The First Great Awakening & Its Legacy

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing key terms, people, and concepts from the lecture on the First Great Awakening, its causes, leaders, doctrines, and social impacts.

First Great Awakening

A series of 18th-century religious revivals in the American colonies that emphasized emotional preaching, personal conversion, and challenged traditional church authority.

Enlightenment (colonial context)

An intellectual movement stressing reason and science; contrasted with the Great Awakening’s emotional appeal but likewise questioned traditional authority.

Hellfire and Brimstone Preaching

A vivid, fear-based style of sermon focusing on the torments of hell to spur repentance and renewed faith.

Jonathan Edwards

Congregational minister whose 1735 sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" ignited revival in New England.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Jonathan Edwards’s famous sermon depicting humanity dangling over hell and urging immediate repentance.

Predestination (Puritan doctrine)

The belief that God has already chosen who will be saved; challenged by Awakening emphasis on individual choice.

George Whitefield

Traveling Anglican evangelist who popularized revivalism across the colonies, stressing the need to be "born again."

Traveling Evangelist

Itinerant preacher moving town-to-town to conduct revival meetings outside traditional parish structures.

New Lights

Supporters of Awakening revivals who embraced emotional conversion and lay preaching.

Old Lights

Established clergy and congregations that rejected the revivals as overly emotional and unsound.

Methodists

Denomination emerging from Anglicanism that enthusiastically adopted Awakening teachings and grew rapidly among ordinary colonists.

Baptists

Evangelical group favoring adult baptism and revivalism; expanded quickly in the South and among enslaved Africans.

Bible Belt

Region of the American South where evangelical Protestantism became culturally dominant after Awakening revivals.

Priesthood of Believers

Awakening idea that any sincere Christian may preach or interpret scripture without formal clergy.

Biblical Inerrancy

Evangelical belief that the Bible contains no errors or contradictions.

Sola Scriptura

Doctrine that scripture alone is the supreme religious authority, overriding church hierarchy and tradition.

Individual Salvation

Awakening emphasis on a personal decision to accept Christ rather than reliance on institutional rites.

Active Evangelism

Zealous effort to recruit and persuade others to conversion, characteristic of evangelical Protestantism.

Democratization of Religion

Shift of religious authority downward to ordinary believers, reducing clerical control.

Pluralism (religious)

Acceptance of multiple denominations and doctrines, reducing sectarian violence in the colonies.

Disestablishment

Removal of tax-supported state churches, separating church and government in many colonies.

Egalitarianism

Belief in social and political equality inspired by the notion of spiritual equality before God.

Revival

A mass movement of renewed religious fervor aiming to re-energize faith and church participation.

Anglican Church (colonial)

Established church in several colonies that lost influence as revivals and new denominations spread.