Failures of the Second Great Awakening were small. They included ones such as Christian clergymen not being able to stop the Sunday mail so people can focus on god that day. Important leaders in this movement were Charles Brandison (evangelical leader who emphasized person conversion experiences and gave intense sermons), Barton W. Stone (another very effective preacher of the awakening), and Alexander and Thomas Campbell (Alexander was a leader, Thomas was a Presbyterian minister). The main cause of educational reform was the new thought brought about by the Enlightenment Movement. This movement is essentially why the US became an independent country and with its independence and the new style of thinking, new ideas like a desire to institute mandatory public education came about.
There was a further implication resulting from this newly elevated status; before The Great Awakening, the emphasis was on God; now the emphasis is on people’s response to God. The second result of the Great Awakening, and certainly growing out of the elevated status of people, was a changed concept of the church. Before The Great Awakening there had been the effort to make people conform to a single church. After The Great Awakening, with the down-playing of theology and the new emphasis on emotional conversion experiences, the idea grows up that the church is whatever you want it to be. Before, the church had been forming people; now people formed the church.
All the different sects of Christianity besides Catholicism branched off of Lutheranism. Also, Luther helped spark the movement to get Bibles to everyday people in order that everyone could search God’s Word for himself. These are probably the two most lasting achievements of Luther’s life. Without Luther, millions of Christians today would not have the same beliefs because they would not attend Protestant churches. There would be no Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, or Presbyterians.
The Great Awakening was a revival movement meant to purify religion from material distractions and renew one’s faith in God. The movement was a reaction against the waning of religion and the spread of skepticism during the Enlightenment of the 1700s. During this time, revival ministers stressed the emptiness of material comfort, the corruption of human nature, and the need for immediate repentance lest individuals receive divine fury. These revivalists, such as Jonathan Edwards and the Englishman George Whitefield, stressed that believers must rely on their own conscience to achieve an inner emotional understanding of religious truth. Jonathan Edwards gave an impassioned sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” in which he proclaimed that man must save himself by immediately repenting his sins.
Their exponents were witnesses for the faith, teachers and civic pillars. Other societies published Christian literature; notable among these was the American Bible Society (1816) and the American Tract Society (1826). Social activism spawned abolition groups, temperance andsuffrage societies, and others committed to prison reform, care for the handicapped and mentally ill. A noted proponent of such reforms was the evangelist Charles G. Finney. In addition to being an innovative evangelist whose techniques others would imitate, he held that the Gospel saved people, but also it was a means to reform society. True to his word, Finney was a fervent abolitionist and encouraged other Christians to get involved.
Does this mean “all truth?” Does that role pertain to the special disciples (Apostles) only, or to all believers? 16:13-15. Bruce, p. 320. Jesus had already introduced the disciples to the truth, and the Spirit would only guide them along the way of the truth. Jesus also insists that the spirit will only speak that which he hears but not on his own impulse.
As a Christian chaplain candidate, My desire is to wear the cross, and my actions speak volumes about my faith. Because of some of the restrictions on direct evangelism, the most important call is to show Christ through my life, and allow others to ask the questions. The Holy Spirit will work through both our words and our actions. People have to understand that the chaplaincy in the United States Military has a long history dating back to the Revolution. The role of the chaplain has changed considerably.
Theology had shifted dramatically from European thought and become very much American way of thought. Religious thinkers became such masters of Christian theology that thought and moral reasoning played a big part in influencing the course of America. Christianity has impacted the Americans life since before the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and drafted The Constitution. As authors and co-signers of America’s rudder and backbone the fore fathers indirectly have affected the life of every American. The Christian influence can be noted in correspondence the forefathers wrote to each other.
The developing society placed great importance on the establishment of the community. The believed they must work together, including aiding those in need, fearing God would not help them if they did not help each other. In John Winthrop’s 1630 work, A Modell of Christian Charity, he writes “…Wee must delight in eache other; make other’s conditions our own; rejoice together, mourne together, labour and suffer together, always hauveing before our eyes our commission and community in the worke, as members of the same body… “ (Doc. A). He writes that by not embracing the community, God would abandon them and they would be a failure and the rest of the world would talk about it.
Because of slavery, black’s concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw God as a more spiritual savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. The black theology ideas are old, nearly 400 years ago during the time of slavery African Americans sang spiritual hymns as their worked on the field of their masters, which can be seen as the birth of black liberation theology