The Great Awakening Essay

The eighteenth-century was a time of tremendous change with North America’s religious history. Colonists rejected the more ascetic forms of Christianity as a result of The Great Awakening. By the end of the eighteenth century, the majority of the colonial regions had developed their own extensive denominations of Christianity due to the failure of the English church. The Church of England was declining and new religions ranged from Congregationalist to Anglican to Lutheran. In addition to the many denominational divisions, churches were manifesting a rupture between rationalists and evangelicals. The rise of the Great Awakening amongst prominent colonists signaled a shift towards a more democratic form of Christianity.

The rationalists rejected the Great Awakening; instead, the rationalists believed that the laws of nature prevented God from participating as an active force in daily life, whereas the evangelicals embraced the national event. This rift also occurred between the common people and the aristocrats. It became increasingly hard for congregational men to acquire full memberships which caused more common people to shift towards the new denominations. The movement also had a powerful political

The largest group of churchgoing colonists divided internally between advocates and opponents of the Awakening. “Inevitably, civil governments were drawn into the fray. In colonies where one denomination received state support, other churches lobbied legislatures for disestablishment.” Others might say that the Great Awakening caused the colonists to be less religious because rather than creating equality for the colonists, it brought out a sense of spiritual dryness. Religion had become a boring and cold past time for them. Because of experimental religion, “worship had lost its former