Religious Worship In The Great Awakening

In Jonathan Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he tries to tell the colonist of Massachusetts and the people in his congregation that they cannot take their life and success for granted but that each day they are fighting to keep their souls up from what he calls “hellfire”. This has a reaction to the people to a period known as the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening has been know as time where people gain religious interest and practice these interest by going to church and not believing in predestination . I think that with use of strong vocabulary, Imagery and strong message behind his sermon, Jonathan Edwards was a big part of the Great Awakening.

The Great Awakening originated from a man named Jonathan Edwards who wrote the famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This sermon preached that everyone was capable of salvation. Religion started to become a more personal experience and more and more people stopped going to church. When "old lights," didn't approve of the personal spirituality that the Great Awakening was adjuring to, many members of Congregational and Presbyterian denominations simply left for other churches. The "old lights" and the "new lights" disagreed on many issues, causing two of the major denominations to become divided. As religion became an emotional, personal experience instead of a communal one, places which did not have an established church,

In Thomas Long’s The Witness of Preaching, he aims to urge the reader to become a reliable witness of the gospel by way of ample preparation before entering a pulpit. The text offers to the reader a deeper understanding of the ministry of preaching. A useful component of the text contains informative bits of information that make the reader aware of the lengthy but necessary preparation needed for an adequate explanation of the scripture. Of primary importance is the consideration of the congregation when a preacher is first approaching the text. This point is of vital importance as it signifies that the speaker is a member of the body of Christ and the congregation. Such understanding is a reminder that the preacher is an unworthy vessel being

There are thousands of sects, cults and newreligious movements (NRM’s) existing in our society today. Many have made the assumption that we are living in a secularized world, that the meaning of religion in our society is decreasing. Peter L. Berger (1991) writes that: ”The world today, is as furiously religious as it ever was, and in some places more so than ever.” Berger admits that certain religious institutions have lost their power and influence in some societies, but claims that both old and new religious beliefs have continued in the lives of individuals. Though society may no longer function around religious institutions, this does not make individuals less personally religious, or willing to believe.

The world has always endured hunger, but not always the conventional hunger that we are all familiar with. “Why could I not eat when I was hungry” (Wright pg.19) Although this statement regards his physical hungers, Wright also expresses his other hungers throughout his life. In “Black Boy” Richard Wright grows up in the Jim Crow South where he experiences a hunger for emotional expression and connection as well as the hunger for knowledge.

Most of these worshipers seemed to come from the lower echelons of society. These were a people down trodden living in the backwater areas of the state. To them religion became something of a pastime in which people would go through the motions. So the ‘New Lights’ adopted an approach that was characterized by the great fervor and emotion they put in to prayer. These Christians supported the Great Awakening with such enthusiasm that even non-believers could be swept up into the hype. Connecticut farmer Nathan Cole was one such individual, “I dropt my tool that I had in my hand and ran home and run through my house and bade my wife get ready quick to go and hear Mr. Whitefield preach at Middletown.” Nathan was a believer in Christ who was brought to realize righteousness would not save him. The ‘New Light’s’ felt that the Old ways led to a general sense of complacency among the believers of Christ. George Whitefield states that these almost Christians have two states of mind about religion “that wavers between Christ and the world”. These people are tottering on the edge of sin as Jonathan Edwards tell us in the writing entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Edwards tells us that “God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else”. He tells preaches that those supporting the old ways, “have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet ‘tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every

The Second Great Awakening was designed in such a way that it provided a deeper conviction among believers and non-believers. Primarily, the Second Awakening was designed to restore individuals who had previously believed in God, but had digressed from the course of faith for some reason. A plethora of revival meetings were held during this period to assist individuals to make up their mind and mend their ways to return to God. These groups organized prayers to assist the church to seek God fervently. Moreover, the Great Awakening rekindled the need to increase the number of missionary societies to participate in the spread of the Gospel.

David Buttrick was one of the famous homiletician of the twentieth century. He completed his graduate study in Systematic Theology at Garrett Biblical Institute Contemporary Literature at North-western University. His book entitled Homiletic: Moves and Structures. This work was considered as an important works in the field of homiletics since nineteenth century.

As the colonies began to grow, the idea of individualism took over the Utopian Dream. American’s dreamed of having a society free of class rule, and believed that they were accomplishing just that. They believed in egalitarianism, in which everyone would be the same. But, this was just a belief, in reality economic and population growth caused only the rich to get richer, while the rest of the population remained the same or got poorer. (Nash 2) This growth eventually led to The Great Awakening. The Great Awakening helped create greater diversity among the population. It represented individualism among the middle class and showed self importance. People began to feel that they had power, causing a varying

The Special Collections Department of Mullins Library at The University of Arkansas houses hidden treasures in regards to American music. Items throughout the department include primary sources such as diaries, pictures, musical scores, books, and notes. I have been interested in African-American spiritual music and after looking through many collections, I decided to research this topic. I found many interesting books written about African-American spirituals which contained authentic musical examples. These books include “The Negro Forget Me Not Songster,” “American Ballads and Folk Songs,” and “Religious Folk Songs of the Negro” written in 1844, 1927, and 1934 respectively. These objects relate to American music because they contain original musical examples and scores of African-American music compiled by their various authors.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, on July 15, 1838, delivered his acclaimed speech, “The Divinity School Address,” to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School. Desiring to leave a lasting impact on the students’ beliefs on what religion truly was, Emerson cunningly utilized the opportunity that arose out of addressing an easily influenced graduating class. A fervent transcendentalist who believed in the innate goodness of people, Emerson attempted to convey, in this message, what he believed the essence of true religion was: a divine worship of one’s self, a belief that is in direct opposition with what Christianity encourages: a devoted worship of Christ and a reckoning of one’s carnal self. In “The Divinity School Address”, not only did Emerson boldly define what he believed religion was, he also chastised Christianity for tarnishing the sacred concept of true religion and for openly proclaiming “errors” as truth, professing that Jesus was God instead of a mere mortal who understood the value of and practiced self-worship. Emerson, displeased with the current state of religion, offered the solution to the graduating class: themselves. Urging them to recognize and to preach the importance of self, Emerson believed that, to fix Christianity and religion as a whole, preachers must introduce religion as a fluid, equivocal concept that focuses around self. Although one should approach Emerson’s writings and beliefs with an open mind, I argue that Emerson’s opinions in “The Divinity

I was raised in a family that wasn 't too religious with my father being from a Catholic family and my mother belonging to a Jewish family. My parents were married by both a Priest and a Rabbi which living in Brooklyn, New York wasn 't considered too uncommon.

Religion has unquestionably shaped the structure of the United States from the founding of the first colonies on the eastern coast to modern political disputes. The roots of its grasp upon american society can be tied back to settlements in the east for the purpose of establishing strict religious communities. Although many continued to hold onto older religious beliefs as the colonies progressed, american colonies began to drift from the stern ideals which were held by the colony’s founders. In fear of allowing the colonies to become involved in “worldly matters”, movements such as the Great Awakening arose. In this campaign, many ministers sought to instill fear upon those they believed to be

George Herbert Meade refers to religion consistently throughout most of his texts. Specifically, Meade connects religion to his ethics and views of the world, illustrating that religion has had a tremendous influence on him. Meade’s father was a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts, and was also a professor at Oberlin Theological Seminary. As a result, religion was a substantial part of Meade’s early life and clearly had an impact on his writing. Meade’s views and ethics position is highly influenced by religion.

Geaves, G. D. a. R., 2007. The Study of Religion: An Introductin to Key Ideas and Methods. s.l.:The Continuum International Publishing Group.