How Did The Enlightenment And The Great Awakening Influence

The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening changed history in many ways. The Enlightenment ideologies and the Great Awakening influenced the growth of the Christian church denominations during the last half of the colonial period across the British American colonies in many different ways. This period focuses on the improvements of science and experiments. This period also had opened the minds of the people into the awareness of natural law. Many people performed experiments that made others question their own beliefs, which were directly taken from the Bible. Many controversies occurred as well as scientific experiments, which resulted in the growth of the church. The Enlightenment engaged in the minds, as the Great Awakening engaged in the

The Enlightenment changed the ways and views of authority. This began in 1715, being the year that Louis XIV died, and in 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution. The principal goal of the Enlightenment thinkers were liberty, progress, reason, fraternity, tolerance, and ending the abuses of the state and church. This era is associated with the scientific revolution. The scientific revolution was inspired by Thomas Kuhn. It was based off of the transformation of views on mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy when they started to develop. Some of the most influential work compiled together is called the Encyclopedia. It was philosophers whose work that influenced the Enlightenment. Those philosophers were Locke, Descartes, Francis Bacon, and Spinoza, but the major influencers are Cesare Beccaria, Jean Jacques, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Rousseau, Adam Smith, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson came to Europe and contributed actively to the scientific database. The Enlightenment engaged in the

George Whitefield believed that nobody was coming to the church because quote on quote, "dead men preach to them". He tried to preach in a more energetic sort of way along with many other preachers, in hope that would attract the people. Whitefield's goal was for the hearers to look into their own souls and to be convinced. Revivals were placed in large tents and were full of drama, a distinct shift from the attitude of the Puritans and the ritual of the Church of England. Many of Whitefield's sermons also emphasized the futility of boring ritual as seen in the Anglican Church he came from. Whitefield is credited with starting the practice of preaching in public, since the Church of England wouldn't give him a pulpit to deliver his sermons. Davenport, who is an infamous, traveling preacher, taught that people needed to avoid the temptations of the Devil in their everyday life. He held bonfires opened to the public so his followers could burn the things that distracted and tempted them to pride. Non-religious books and other luxury items commonly ended up in ashes due to him preaching about the burning of luxurious items. The Awakening made people rebel against God and their own beliefs. Instead of people praying and depending on the power of God, they felt that they could handle it by themselves. The children later on started to follow this path as well. The 18th Century was