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The Second Great Awakening
I.
Revivalism ( a
breaking away of Calvinistic Doctrine)
A.
The SGA was a series
of revivals, 1800-1837
a.
propagated by
Charles Grandison Finney, Lyman
Beecher, Barton Stone, Peter Cartwright, and Asahel Nettleton became very well
known as a result. Evangelical participation in social causes was fostered
that changed American life in areas such as prison reform, abolitionism, and
temperance
b.
revival encouraged the emergence of Restorationism and other new religious
movements, especially the Mormons[i]
and the Holiness movement
c.
Spearheaded by
Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians
I.
Baptist:
II.
Methodists: Broke
away from the Anglican Church, John
Wesley, along with his brother and Whitefield, were branded as "Methodist"
by opposing clergy within the Church of England.[ii]
Initially Whitefield and the Wesleys merely sought reform, by way of a return
to the Gospel, within the Church of England, but the movement spread with
revival and soon a significant number of Anglican clergy became known as
Methodists in the mid eighteenth century.
III.
Cane Ridge, KY was a large camp meeting that drew Methodists, Baptists and
Presbyterians.
I.
This was the cause of the Restoration Movement which formed the Church of
Christ, Disciples of Christ, etc. Which held to total emmersion as necessary
for salvation.
IV.
"Stone-Campbell Movement" The nickname is taken from the names of
Barton W. Stone
(Presbyterian) and
Alexander Campbell (Reformed Baptist), who are regarded by some
historians as the leading figures of four independent movements with like
principles who merged together into two religious movements of significant
size. Many of the more conservative members of the Churches of Christ object
to the phrase "Stone-Campbell
Movement" as being derogatory.
Restorationism sought to renew the whole Christian church, on the
pattern set forth in the New Testament, without regard to the creeds
V.
Out of this movement came
William Miller (Millerites) which formed many cults that we have
today such as
Adventism, Ellen White and
the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
Charles Taze Russell and the
Jehovah's Witnesses.
d.
Great numbers of, what is known as the ?Tidewater? area, southeast Virginia,
North Carolina parts of Maryland. Most backwoods uneducated people who held to
many old superstitions.
I.
Ecstatic utterance was said to have been heard (pagan babble).
II.
This became
associated with Pentecostalism invented in 1901.
B.
Old Doctrine and
creeds abandoned
1.
Original sin is
redefined as simply a tendency to sin as opposed to being born sinners.
2.
The redefinition of
original sin implies a redefinition of predestination
3.
free will dominates
as predestination is redefined
a.
Unregenerate man is now able
to do moral good
b.
Unregenerate man can turn
from sin
c.
Sin is redefined as simply
breaking a list of dos and don?ts
4.
Decisional
regeneration is proclaimed
5.
Logical implications
lead to question the omniscience of God
6.
Eschatology becomes
the center of focus and purpose for the proclamation of the Gospel. The
emphasis on second coming produces a plea for an emotional response and
experience rather than Biblical study Charles Finney, preaching at Yale
1824-1837, developed the "invitation" and many other rituals common to modern
revivals .. The day after Finney was converted,
C.
The SGA 1st
arrives in rural areas, mostly uneducated and superstitious people
1.
The Rural revivals
were based on experience and emotionalism
2.
The forsaking of old
doctrine, creeds and superstitions. ?Just what crowded out all other gospel
truths-the superstitions and unbelief of the apostasy? But, thank God, the
darkness is past and the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings is
shining salvation and health to all who will forsake all their old doctrines,
creeds and superstitions, and get back upon the old apostolic foundation, the
Word of God.?[v]
3.
Lead to a sense of
American exceptionalism (the fuel for Dispensationalism)
II.
The Root of the
Origin
A.
Creeds and
confessions are viewed as a liberal agenda out of touch with personal
experience
1.
The definition of
original sin is viewed as a liberal view
2.
Predestination was a
liberal view and an excuse to live in sin
3.
Fundamentalism feels
better with a more capitalistic society (after all we are the chosen
generation)
B.
Religion is viewed as
social control and should be abandoned
C.
Social changes to
establish self edification and the right of the individual
D.
Produced the haves
and the have nots in spiritualism
E.
Emphasis on personal
moral reform
F.
Attempts to control
Society due to man as able for self correction.
G.
Reduces class
divisions
H.
Attempts to control
employee and employer behavior
1.
Attempts to change
consumerism to more moral spending
a.
Asks for restrictions on
alcohol and gambling
b.
Emphasis on personal
improvement by buying goods and services to achieve that moral reform.
I.
Societal reform and
alcohol
1.
Alcohol consumption
on the increase
2.
New theology
determines that alcohol causes corruption
3.
New theology blames
all social ills on alcohol consumption
I.
domestic abuse
II.
prostitution
III.
Gambling
IV.
Robbery
V.
Assaults
VI.
Murder
4.
Alcohol consumption
drops 75% from 1830 to 1845
III.
Affect on Society
A.
Urban Area
a.
Tended to have a more
conservative
and institutional character that grew from the
increasing distance between rich and poor.
b.
This was created by
the rapid economic growth of the early Industrial Revolution.
B.
Religious commitment
to social reform by elite and middle-class urban dwellers
a.
Motivated by a
concept of religious benevolence that encouraged them to try and improve the
condition of spiritually impoverished people
b.
created a national
network of religious institutions
I.
American Bible
Society
II.
American Sunday
School
III.
American Tract
Society
c.
These institutions
cooperated on an interdenominational basis to form what is often called the
Benevolent Empire
I.
These organizations
hoped to overcome the great Pluralism within American Protestantism by
downplaying denominational difference.
IV.
Moral reform
A.
Women?s rights?.
B.
Slavery
a.
Finney and others
stood against slavery and argued it was impossible in a prefect Christian
society
b.
The work of the
Benevolent Empire more generally, impacted business leaders and middle-class
people who had benefited from the increased standard of living brought about
by the early Industrial Revolution. These groups recognized the rewards to be
secured from hard work and self-discipline which they combined with a
commitment to Christian morality that often included strong opposition to
drinking alcohol.
c.
Agricultural and
unskilled labor largely excluded from the benefits of the Industrial
Revolution, the new call for moral reform seemed to intrude on private family
matters. Instead of seeing religion as the answer to social problems, some
opponents of the Benevolent Empire began to call for workingmen's associations
that could secure higher wages for ordinary laborers.
d.
Perfectionism divide
North and South
2.
Finney and other
Revivalist argued that slavery made a perfect Christian Society an
impossibility
3.
Northern Revivalists
preachers argued that slavery interfered with man?s free will so that they
could not choose salvation
4.
By 1838, 1350
anti-slavery societies had appeared in the North inspired by the revivalist of
the Second Great Awakening.
V.
This contributed to
if not caused the Civil War.
A.
Led to the acceptance
of Dispensationalism
a.
Restorationism
I.
William Miller (Millerites)
I.
Adventism
I.
Seventh Day Adventist
II.
Jehovah? Witnesses
III.
Adventist
b.
Pentecostalism
I.
Latter Rain Movement
(Charismatics)
II.
Word of Faith
[i]
Matzko, John (2007). "The
Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism". Dialogue: A
Journal of Mormon Thought 40 (3): 68?84. Presbyterian historian Matzko
notes that "Oliver Cowdery claimed that Smith had been 'awakened' during a
sermon by the Methodist minister George Lane." [ii] Arnold Dallimore. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth Trust, 1980. [iii] Charles G. Finney, Memoirs of Charles G. Finney (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1876), p. 24. [iv] Finney, Memoirs, p. 83.
[v] Marie
Woodworth-Etter, Signs and Wonders,
Chapter XIII |
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