The GREAT AWAKENING & The ENLIGHTENMENT

Imagine you are asleep and then suddenly….. YOU’RE AWAKE!!!!! (Make sure to answer questions or write definitions #1-30 on your paper….they will appear in YELLOW)  1. What does it mean when people say “wake up!” when you’re already awake?

Soooooooo…………  2. Why is it more important to be awake than asleep?  3. Can we be “asleep” when we’re actually awake?  (hint: the answer is “YES”, but what does this mean?)

What was the Great Awakening?   The Great Awakening was a period of great revivalism that spread throughout the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. It deemphasized the importance of church doctrine and instead put a greater importance on the individual and their spiritual experience.

George Whitefield  A Puritan Minster who used emotional sermons to reach all classes of colonists  Preached that “good works” and “godly lives” would bring you salvation  Gave sermons in open areas (revivals) to people who did not generally attend church  Eventually large crowds gathered to hear him

Definition of Theology:   4. (copy this down) Theology: The field of study and analysis of God; a learned profession requiring specialized training   5. So knowing this, what is a Theologian?

Look at this picture and think about what you see……….

What do you see? 6. Describe what you see 7. Who do you think the man is on the stage and what do you think he’s talking about? 8. What makes you think this? 9. What are the people in the audience doing? 10. Why do you think they’re reacting this way to what the man is saying?

Reasons for The Great Awakening  11. People before this time felt that religion (mostly Puritan) was dry, dull and distant. Why?  12. Preachers started to feel that people needed to be concerned with their inner emotions instead of their outward religious behavior. Why?  13. People in New England started to read and interpret the Bible on their own. Is this a good or a bad thing? Why?

Jonathan Edwards terrified listeners with his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. He was a Puritan minster and theologian who was fascinated with science and questioned his own religious conversion.

SINNERS BEWARE! “The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell, much as one holds a Spider, or some loathsome Insect, over the Fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his Wrath towards you burns like Fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the Fire; he is of purer Eyes than to bear to have you in his Sight; you are ten Times so abominable in his Eyes, as the most hateful venomous Serpent is in ours.God ‘ O Sinner! Consider the fearful Danger you are in: ‘Tis a great Furnace of Wrath, a wide and bottomless Pit, full of the Fire of Wrath, that you are held over in the Hand of that God…..   Source: Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God... (Boston: Printed & sold by S. Kneeland & T. Green, 1741).  14. Why is this probably not the best way to conduct a church sermon?

Sooooooo…….  How did that make you feel?  Are you excited to attend another church sermon just like this next week? Yeah…..I didn’t really think so…… But wait….there’s more……

“God may cast wicked men into hell at any given moment…” Excerpt from Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God  Jonathan Edwards was interrupted many times before finishing the sermon by people moaning and crying out, "What shall I do to be saved?“  This sermon is a great example of why the Great Awakening was needed and necessary…..Can people really live like this? Do people WANT to live like this?

Outcomes of the Great Awakening  This was the birth of changes in the colonies. People started to move away from Puritanism.  New churches were built to accommodate new members.  15. Why were there new church members?  Colleges were founded to train new ministers.  16. Why are there new ministers and why would they need training?

 Encouraged ideas of equality among all people and gave the right for people to challenge authority  Birth of charity and charitable organizations.  17. Explain why you think there probably weren’t any charities before this time.

Along with The Great Awakening, we have…….. The ENLIGHTENMENT

The Enlightenment: 18. What does it mean to be “Enlightened”?  A movement in the 1700’s that rejected traditional ways of life and looked for a more rational and scientific way to explain the world we live in.  19. What ruled “traditional” ways of life during colonial times?  There was an emphasis on the sciences and reason to explain things.  20. What kinds of explanations do you think they were looking for?

Enlightenment Arguments (Write down everything in YELLOW)  21. Generally we are good…..  22. and it is our environment that influences us  23. Use of science and reason can answer the mysteries of life  They can also answer questions concerning man and his government

Outcomes of the Enlightenment  24. Great surge of literacy in the colonies  25. Newspapers and book publications increase  26. Churches AND schools are now the center of new towns

 27. What topics do you think people were reading about as a result of The Enlightenment?  28. How do you think this new interest in literacy changed the colonists and the colonies?

Outcomes of the Enlightenment  People are born with natural rights.  29. What ARE Natural Rights?  Government has an obligation to protect those natural rights  Kings have no right to govern people, people empower government.  30. How is a president different than a king?

Before we go….finish this sentence……. I believe the time period of The Great Awakening and The Enlightenment was important because………..

Yes…….. It’s the end….. It’s the end…..