The First Great Awakening: Comprehensive Study Notes

Overview & Historical Context

• The First Great Awakening (often simply “the Great Awakening”) was a wave of Protestant revivals that swept the British North American colonies roughly $1720\text{s}\,--\,1740\text{s}$.

• It paralleled – and in many ways reacted to – the Enlightenment (Chapter 4’s previous topic):

  • Enlightenment = intellectual, rational, elite, human-centered.

  • Awakening = emotional, experiential, popular, God-centered.

• First truly pan-colonial event: every English colony knew about it, even if reactions differed.

• Core purpose: re-energize Christian faith, confront declining church membership, and challenge complacency.

Early Warning Signs (Decline in Religious Zeal, $1700\text{–}1720$)

• By the early $18^{\text{th}}$ century many colonies had loosened original religious goals.

• New distractions: trade, travel, money-making, entertainment.

• Evidence of decline:

  • Falling church attendance (even where Sunday worship was legally mandated, e.g. Puritan Massachusetts).

  • Fear that Puritans had broken their covenant with God (remember Salem witchcraft trials as possible “warning” from God).

Spark in the Middle Colonies: The Tennant Family (Presbyterians, New Jersey)

• Around $1720$, Rev. William Tennant and sons noted fading zeal.

• Adopted hellfire-and-brimstone preaching:

  • Emotional pleas, vivid descriptions of sin’s wages and heaven’s joys.

  • Brief notoriety, then lull – set a stylistic precedent though.

New England Outburst: Jonathan Edwards (Congregationalist, MA) – $1734\text{–}1735$

• 4th-generation Puritans (“Congregationalists”) lacked founders’ rigor.

• Edwards feared his flock’s damnation and falling attendance.

• Famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1735):

  • Iconic imagery: “God holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider over the fire…”

  • Key themes: God’s wrath, human helplessness, urgent need for repentance.

  • Subtle theological shift away from strict predestination – individuals must choose to awaken.

• Impact:

  • Immediate surge in church attendance; crowds leaned through windows to listen.

  • Sermon reprinted, circulated, preached hundreds of times.

  • Conversions and professions of faith rose sharply until ~$1740$.

  • Critics (older Puritans) dismissed it as mere emotion, “not substantive.”

Migration South & Birth of the “Bible Belt”

• Southern colonies originally placed minimal emphasis on organized religion:

  • Anglican Church established in name but weak in practice (few churches, pastors).

  • Carolinas indifferent; Georgia new and undeveloped.

• Awakening introduced lasting evangelical culture later dubbed the Bible Belt.

• Theological pivot: from angry, judgmental God to a merciful God accessible through personal faith in Jesus.

The Itinerant Super-Star: George Whitefield (Anglican, Evangelist)

• Former “hell-raiser” (drinking, gambling) turned zealous convert; called classmates “spiritually dead.”

• Rejected pulpit confinement; became a traveling evangelist:

  • Toured colonies, preaching outdoors & in meeting houses.

  • Emphasized “faith of the heart” over ritual & hierarchy.

  • Message: Salvation is free; simply ask and be born again; feel the New Light.

  • Anyone truly moved by the Spirit is qualified to preach ("priesthood of believers").

• Attendance often in the thousands; revivals resembled giant “pep rallies for Jesus.”

Old Lights vs. New Lights – Denominational Splits

• Old Lights: Anglicans, traditional Presbyterians, Lutherans, older Congregationalists

  • Valued order, education, liturgy; skeptical of emotionalism.

• New Lights: Revival supporters embracing passionate style.

  • Drew heavily from middle- & lower-class colonists and marginalized groups (including enslaved Africans).

• Result: membership drain from Old Lights; rise of Methodists and Baptists (fastest-growing, born from Anglican roots).

Emergence of American Evangelicalism

Four defining traits:

1. Biblical Inerrancy

   • Scripture contains no errors or contradictions.

   • Concept of sola scriptura (“scripture alone”) – Bible is sole religious authority.

2. Individual Salvation

   • Personal choice, not institutional mediation; direct relationship with Jesus.

3. Active, Enthusiastic Proselytizing

   • Urge to spread “Good News,” awaken others, hold revivals.

4. Democratization of Religion

   • Authority pushed downward; minimal education needed; ordinary believers may preach.

Connections to Enlightenment – Joint Challenge to Authority

Although opposite in flavor, Enlightenment reason and Awakening revival converge in undermining traditional power structures.

1. Pluralism (Religious Toleration)

• Acceptance of multiple denominations; legitimization of dissent.

• Ends sectarian violence common in Europe (Protestant–Catholic wars).

• Example: Methodists sprinkle infants; Baptists immerse consenting adults – fine to differ without persecution.

2. Disestablishment & Separation of Church and State

• Most colonies once had an established church funded via taxes.

• Post-Awakening diversity made single support impractical ⇒ gradual disestablishment.

• Spiritual (church) and secular (state) spheres formally separated; precedent for Constitutional First Amendment.

3. Egalitarianism & Decline of Class Deference

• Revival rhetoric: all equal before God.

• If spiritual equals, why not social & political equals? → Increased lay participation in civic matters.

• Precursor to revolutionary ideals about consent of the governed.

Long-Term Legacy

• Embedded evangelical style in American Protestantism (later adopted partly by Catholics too).

• Cemented the South’s religious identity (Bible Belt).

• Fed democratic impulses that helped fuel colonial resistance leading to the American Revolution.

• Encouraged religious entrepreneurship: camp meetings, circuit riders, later “Second Great Awakening.”

Key Terms & People (Quick Reference)

• Great Awakening – $1720\text{s}\text{–}1740\text{s}$ Protestant revivals.

• Jonathan Edwards – Congregationalist theologian; Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1735).

• George Whitefield – Anglican itinerant evangelist; face of New Light revival.

• Hellfire & Brimstone – Graphic preaching on damnation.

• New Light / Old Light – Revivalists vs. traditionalists.

• Evangelicalism – Movement defined by biblical authority, conversionism, activism, and populist preaching.

• Bible Belt – Region (South) with dense evangelical adherence, roots in Awakening.

• Disestablishment – Ending tax-supported state churches.

• Pluralism – Acceptance of multiple faiths without coercion.

• Egalitarianism – Belief in social/political equality paralleling spiritual equality.

Study Prompts & Reflection Questions

1. Compare Enlightenment and Awakening critiques of authority – where do they intersect and diverge?

2. How did the message of individual salvation erode the power of colonial elites & established clergy?

3. Trace denominational growth: why did Methodism and Baptism flourish while Presbyterians/Lutherans declined?

4. Evaluate the sermon techniques of Edwards vs. Whitefield – how did style reinforce substance?

5. In what ways did the Great Awakening lay groundwork for later revolutionary ideology about rights and representation?

(End of notes – review consistently and connect themes across chapters for exam success!)