Considering the historical period of the first half of the 18th century in North America, the most striking phenomenon is the Calvinist Great Awakening, which began with the preaching of Theodor Frelinghuizen in the Dutch Reformed communities of New Jersey in the 34-35th years. The flame was spread to the Congregational churches of Massachusetts through the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. The Great Awakening encompassed a series of religious revivals that swept through the American colonies in the mid-eighteenth century. It led to profound doctrinal changes in theology that also influenced social thought. The Great Awakening marked the emergence of Anglo-American evangelism as an interdenominational movement in Protestant churches.
Jonathan Edwards, one of the most influential figures of the Great Awakening, established many principles through his sermons which beccame the ideological base of the movement. In 1734, the Reverend Jonathan Edwards began evangelizing vigorously in Northampton, where he was pastor, with a series of sermons on justification by faith. His most famous speeches, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “Undergoing Suffering a Duty to Christ,” are considered a classic. Edwards’ influence on American Christian thought was enormous, and he is often regarded as the last of the great New England Calvinists.
However, his emphasis on personal religious experience and his use of the revival that led to the Great Awakening were partly responsible for the emergence of evangelical revivalism. It was based on the belief, counter to Calvinist doctrine, that salvation was possible without a predestined election. Jonathan Edwards was a consistent opponent of Arminianism and perceived free will from a compatibilist position. He was the first to give the most precise definition of free will. He noted that human freedom is not the ability to do what people choose to do but rather what they want to do. Will is not an essence but an expression of the strongest motive in the character of the individual. It was emphasized that the natural sinner would never praise God until his heart was touched by the hand of God. Edwards called the new feeling of love and service to God, bestowed by God by grace, “to be excused from being for Christ and for his glory”. Regeneration is brought about by God, and God alone is the factual basis for repentance and conversion.
Many churches supported his ideals and beliefs at the beginning of Edwards’ activities in the Great Awakening. In December 1734, the Spirit of God began to touch people’s hearts, and soon the whole city was saturated with interest in spiritual issues. People seemed to be in God’s presence, love, and joy. The revival covered about 20 churches in western Massachusetts and Connecticut, continuing in some communities for several years. The observers who came to Northampton were greatly impressed by what they saw, and they took the revival lights into their churches. Therefore, the Great Awakening was a remarkable spiritual revival in the history of America, with a significant number of churches and cities. Jonathan Edwards’s sermons exposed people’s sins, convicting them with deep power. Through his beliefs, many people were able to recognize God in their hearts, which positively affected their values forming process.
Therefore, the ideas of the Great Awakening created the basis for forming a new direction of evangelism. Edwards articulated theology of revival and salvation that transcended denominational boundaries and helped shape a common evangelical identity. The revivalists added to the doctrinal imperatives of Reformation Protestantism an emphasis on providential outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The mentioned changes in God’s perception helped create a more evangelist-oriented community.
Bibliography
Edwards, Jonathan. “Sermon Eleven: Undergoing Sufferings a Duty to Christ.” Ethical Writings 8, (1749): 314–326. Web.
Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Electronic Texts in American Studies (1741).
Lambert, Frank. “Pedlar in Divinity: George Whitefield and the Great Awakening, 1737–1745.” Journal of American History 77, no. 3 (1990): 812–837.
Winiarski, Douglas. “Jonathan Edwards, Enthusiast? Radical Revivalism and the Great Awakening in the Connecticut Valley.” Church History 74, no. 4 (2005): 683–739.