Great Awakening
Throughout the course of history, many different groups of people fled their homeland in search of religious freedom. Many of these peoples came to America seeking religious freedom. Two groups that sought this freedom in America were the Puritans and the Calvinists. Both of these religions had many leaders, but two stand out above the rest. They are Jonathan Edwards (Puritanism) and George Whitefield(Calvinism). These preachers led what is known as revivalism among the early colonists. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of these preachers on American colonists, in respect to their own religions. Jonathan Edwards was an American theologian. He graduated from Yale at the age of 17 where he studied theology. He began preaching in 1722 in New York City, and became the colleague of his grandfather Solomon Stoddard in the ministry at Northhampton, Massachusetts. Edwards took conrol of the congregation in 1729. Some of Edwards trademarks are his forceful preaching, and powerful logic. These were admirable qualities in the Calvinist tradition (Hatch, 1988). These qualities were supported by his reading of Locke and Berkeley. Some of his favorite themes to discuss were predestination and the dependen
Kuklick, Bruce. Churchmen and Philosophers:From Jonathan Edwards to John Dewey. Yale UP, 1985. George Whitefield was another famous preacher during the Great Awakening in the colonies. He was an English evangelistic preacher and leader of the Calvinistic Methodist Church. He entered Oxford in 1732, and joined the Methodist group led by John and Charles Wesley. He was ordained a deacon on the Church of England in 1736, and soon began preaching. He became known as the leader of the evangelical revival during the Great Awakening. He made seven trips to America, returned to England looking for money to start an orphanage in Georgia, and to take orders as an Anglican preist. However, his affiliation with John Wesley and the evangelical character of his preaching led to his exclusion from most of the pulpits of the Church of England (Kuklick, 1985). John Wesley was the founder of English Methodism, which combined enthusiastic preaching with rules of behavior and disciplined "methods" of worship, such as specific prayers. Whitefield, like Edwards, used very dramatic ways of getting his messages across to the congregation. Whitefield usually spoke from memory rather than having a written sermon. This gave the effect of being inspired. He was able to get emotional responses from his listeners when he made the assertion that they were all sinners and must seek salvation (Kuklick, 1985). He is beleived to have made about
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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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