First Great Awakening

The First Great Awakening, often called the Great Awakening in America, was a series of Christian revivals. These movements swept through Britain and the thirteen North American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s.

In the United Kingdom, this period is known as the Evangelical Revival. The movement fundamentally changed Protestantism by focusing on individual piety and religious devotion. It helped create a shared evangelical identity that crossed many different church denominations. This era transformed how people understood their personal relationship with faith.

Revival theology introduced a specific way of understanding religious conversion. Leaders taught that being a Christian required more than just intellectual agreement with doctrine. They emphasized a "new birth," which was an experience felt deeply within the heart.

Preachers often used extemporaneous preaching, which means speaking without prepared notes. This style helped listeners feel a deep personal conviction regarding their need for salvation. It also encouraged introspection, or looking inward, to meet new standards of personal morality. This focus on internal experience over external ritual was a central mechanism of the revival.

Several distinct religious traditions provided the foundation for these revivals. These included Puritanism, Pietism, and Presbyterianism. Pietism was particularly important in continental Europe. It emerged as a reaction against an overly intellectual approach to religion called Protestant scholasticism. Pietists felt that traditional teaching had become spiritually dry. Instead, they focused on religious experience and personal affections. This emphasis on the heart prepared much of Europe for the coming revivals.

In central Europe, Nicolaus Zinzendorf played a major role in this religious shift. He was a Saxon noble who studied under the Pietist leader August Hermann Francke. In 1722, Zinzendorf established a community at Herrnhut for members of the Moravian Church. These people had originally arrived as refugees. Under Zinzendorf's guidance, the community experienced a religious revival. Herrnhut soon became a refuge for various Protestants, including German Lutherans and Anabaptists. These Moravian societies eventually spread to England and helped foster the Evangelical Revival there.

In Britain, the movement was led by three prominent Anglican priests. These were George Whitefield and the brothers John and Charles Wesley. They had previously been members of the "Holy Club" at Oxford University. The club earned the name "Methodists" because of their methodical piety and strict lifestyle.

Whitefield became a celebrity due to his dramatic preaching style. He often spoke in the open air to massive crowds. In one instance, he preached to 10,000 people in Kingswood. By May, he was addressing crowds of 50,000 in London. His ability to reach people outside of traditional church buildings was a key part of his success.

John Wesley's experience provided a different path to the movement. After a failed mission to Georgia, Wesley struggled with his own faith. In May 1738, he attended a meeting on Aldersgate Street. During a reading of Martin Luther's work, Wesley felt his heart "strangely warmed." This moment gave him the assurance of salvation he had been seeking. He and his brother Charles began preaching in London, and Wesley eventually organized converts into Methodist societies. These societies used small groups called "classes" to encourage members to confess sins and support one another.

Methodism grew rapidly through these organized efforts. By the time of John Wesley's death in 1791, the movement had significant numbers. There were an estimated 71,668 Methodists in England and 43,265 in America.

The movement also had a broad social reach. Evangelical preachers sought to include people regardless of gender, race, or status. In the American South, the revival increased the number of African slaves and free blacks exposed to Christianity. This led to the founding of missionary groups like the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792.

While the revival united many, it also caused significant divisions. In the American colonies, the Congregational and Presbyterian churches experienced splits. However, the Methodist and Baptist denominations grew stronger. In England, the revival helped create the Evangelical Anglican constituency. Even the Quakers experienced a schism that lasted for a long time. The movement showed how religious enthusiasm could both build new communities and break old ones apart.