The Great Awakening

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Critical Analysis 1: The Great Awakening By: Chris Naylor The Great Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made Christianity intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual conviction and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality. It brought Christianity to African slaves and was a monumental event in New England that challenged established authority. It incited rancor and division between old traditionalists who insisted on the continuing importance of ritual and doctrine, and the new revivalists, who encouraged emotional involvement and personal commitment. It had a major impact in reshaping the Congregational church, the Presbyterian Church, the Dutch Reformed Church, and the German Reformed denomination, and strengthened the small Baptist and Methodist denominations. It had little impact on Anglicans and Quakers. I am writing this paper to compare and contrast two authors’ views concerning the Great Awakening. The first article that I read was “The First American Great Awakening: Lessons Learned and What Can Be Done to Foster a Habitat for the Next Great Awakening” by Cynthia A. Rice. This article offers an overview of the four American Great Awakenings highlighting on the contributions of the 1st Awakening. The second article that I read was “The Great Awakening Peaks” by Mark A. Noll. This article offers an overview of the Great Awakening by following George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards and showing how his
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