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The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment

            The English colonies of North America rarely interacted with one another. From the beginning, the Northern, Middle, and Southern colonies did not share a common historical path other than the fact that they were all claimed under the English flag. Finally, in the mid-18th century, there came a series of events that linked one colony to another; events in one place were beginning to directly affect other regions. Two of such early "national" events were the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment.
             The Great Awakening was a time period during which churches within the colonies were being "revived" or restored in religious enthusiasm. This movement brought many to repentance and caused many to change their lives. However, this movement did not affect everybody. Many members held onto the traditional practices, believing that no change was necessary for them. Those that accepted revivalism split off from the "old" churches and formed new denominations. This reflected the values of people variation and becoming one's own person. These values gave increase to religious tolerance and gave form to religious equality. One religious group could not have any less freedom than another. This truth was undeniable, so many throughout the colonies accepted it as it spread.
             Reverend George Whitefield's arrival in Georgia in 1738 caused a surge of religious zeal. His easily understandable style of speech enticed many to listen to him. His vibrant and emotionally charged messages helped people to realize how "dead" their churches were and see their need for changes in life. Although not everyone agreed with him along with the other revivalists, Whitefield disregarded sectarian differences when they formed and encouraged his listeners to do the same. .
             The Enlightenment was actually a European movement at first. Scientific findings by the likes of Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton made their way to America.


Essays Related to The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment

1. The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening

... States of America's prosperity to this short period. ESSAY 2: With the Great Awakening, came a disturbance in colonial culture, a competing epidemic known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was essentially the exact opposite of the Great Awakening. It was the growing interest in science and technology. The Enlightenment served as a catalyst for the upcoming American revolution. The Enlightenment played a key role on religion, science, education, and law. It was "the revival of science." People began to pay more attention towards ... to explain. It helped religion rather than reduce...

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  • Grade Level: High School

2. Enlightenment

... amongst the few ideologies of enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Hobbes, and Voltaire. Separation of church and state was also established during the Great Awakening. The belief that the Judicial, Executive, and Legislative branches of government should be separated originated during this period. The foundation our democracy is set upon is obviously derived from the practices of the Enlightenment and Great awakening time periods. In the 18th century, education, perceptions of God, and the systems of government developed during the Enlightenment and Great Awakening periods ... in actu...

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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Great Awakening

... religious devotion, thus called the "Great Awakening", the fear of the flames of hell swept through the American colonies, mainly in New England, between 1730-1745. Dominating Calvinist orthodoxy, which was the main religion that branched off into other sections before the Great Awakening, it divided the religious community internally, into "old lights" and "new lights", those opposed and those supportive of the Great Awakening; caused primarily by a decline in worship attendance, and Enlightenment rationalism. Due to conciliations ... " were those defending the Awakening, encouraging mi...

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  • Grade Level: Graduate

4. The Life and Teachings of the Buddha

... been blurred as his story has been told and retold over the millenniums and often submerged in myth, his general message of enlightenment unearthed through the spiritual awakening that he experienced is as clear and concise as the moment he gave his first sermon, relaying the truth that he had found. These words would unite masses as they became the foundation of the Buddhist religion. Greatness seemed to permeate through Siddhartha ... that he sought. He once again began to beg for food and his followers thusly deserted him, disillusioned by his apparent regression. He continued on his...

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  • Has Bibliography

5. Discuss The Significance Of The Buddha's Life

... leads followers to believe that he was a true saint. The core episode of his life as a young adult is termed the "great renunciation" or ascetic way of life. The young Buddha was surrounded by the sensual pleasures wealth and power can provide. His first experience with the outside world, seeing an impoverished old man, sent him back to the palace wracked with melancholy because his father had kept ... an ineffectual way for attaining enlightenment. While the Buddha sat under the bodi tree, the tree of awakening, Mara bombarded Gutama with doubts and temptations like hunger, sensuality,...

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6. The Importance of Reiki and Faith

... much the same as the authorities; the healing had been lost. The monks informed Usui that the route to uncovering the lost jewels of healing could only be found on the path of the Dharma, the Buddhist teachings, which illumine the path to Enlightenment (Stein 9). The life of Christ has many parallels to the life of the Buddha, and many of the brightest lights in antiquity have uncovered the seed of Enlightenment in the Buddhist manner (Stein 9). The accounts from the ... Buddhist's assert that all of life, the reality of what is perceived and experienced, is an illusion. This illusion, ...

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  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals that took the colonies by storm during the 1730's and 1740's. The primary cause of these revivals were changes in economics, political transformations, and Enlightenment rationalism. Implementations of such things like the "half-way covenant," allowed people to take part in church affairs without actually having a salvation experience, thus, rebellion in the church became very immanent. Men and women alike no longer felt very strongly ... of a need for conversion. The supporters of the Awakening pointed to the apparent...

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  • Grade Level: High School

8. Enlightenment

... fear into those moving away from the teachings of Puritanism, causing many to revert back to Puritan ways. This period, known as the Great Awakening, celebrated only a brief recession into a greater influence of religion.More of Locke's ideas, coupled with other Enlightenment thinkers, questioned the authority of monarchies. Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense discusses the rights and laws of equality amongst men and defines monarchy as "ranked in scripture ... as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced ... ...

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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. The Enlightenment

... an "enlightened utopia." Several of the laws in the new colony were structured based upon enlightened ideas. Slavery was prohibited, and due to its negative effects, hard liquor was banned. Ironically, the failure of the colony can be associated with a cause of the religious revival, or Great Awakening of the 1700's. More than a series of ideas, the enlightenment became an attitude, altering the former way of life. The value that enlightened thinkers placed ... upon the natural rights, as described by John Locke, may ... ...

  • Word Count: 761
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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