Analysis Of The Kingdom Of Matthias

Briefly explain two ways in which the First Great Awakening influenced the traditional power of churches in the British colonies.

Nathan Hatch compares the Second Great Awakening to the Jacksonian era. He states that the men trying to persuade other people to join their religion was like tyrants trying to get people to follow them. That just like the beginning stages of the revolution, this was a time of power struggle for religious leaders. Hatch writes ‘These movements

In the 1800s a Market Revolution began, changing the way in which America operated and in the midst of all that was a Second Great Awakening, causing people to once again, question their religious beliefs and practices. Paul Johnson and Sean Wilentz tell the story of Robert Matthews, or the Prophet Matthias and his followers. Matthias had an unconventional childhood, he became an orphan at a young age and was raised by church elders. He worked under one of the elders to learn the carpenter’s craft. He easily found work but had trouble keeping it because he was always preaching at his fellow workers about their sinful ways. Matthias was eager to make good but continually fell into misfortunes, “which led him on a prolonged and erratic religious journey” (49). The Kingdom of Matthias gained and lost members, had changes in beliefs, and was full of ever changing marriages. Although looking back on it now, Matthias’s messages and beliefs seem almost laughable, but at they time his followers found his message, ministry, and lifestyle very compelling.

The Second Great Awakening laid the foundations of the development of present-day religious beliefs and establishments, moral views, and democratic ideals in the United States. Beginning back in late eighteenth century and lasting until the middle of the nineteenth century,1 this Protestant awakening sought to reach out the un-churched and bring people to a much more personal and vivid experience of Christianity. Starting on the Southern frontier and soon spreading to the Northeast, the Second Great Awakening has also been associated as a response against the growing liberalism in religion - skepticism, deism, and rational Christianity.2 Although the movement is well-known to be

James Delaney said “a major influence on social, moral, and political life at the time was the church.” (Delaney). This quote relates to the time

To Stoddard, the idea of “fostering conversions was more important than discovering a perfect church order, and in that attitude he blazed the way for the most influential practice in American religious history: he was the first American to make periodic revivals a centerpiece of his ministry” . Every decade his congregation would experience an “awakening” in which many people were moved spiritually and often lead to conversion. Some of these revivals even made it past Northampton and into the neighboring communities, directly impacting young Edwards and his family, for Edwards’s father rejected the half-way covenant but endorsed revival. These disagreements divided his family and remained unresolved for decades .

A product of the religious revival in Western Europe from late 17th century to early 18th century, the First Great Awakening was a period of religious growth throughout the British American colonies from approximately 1720 to the 1740s. This awakening was led by many religious figures such as John Wesley - a founder of Methodism in the Church of England, George Whitefield - an Anglican who preached throughout the colonies from 1739 to 1740, and Jonathan Edwards - an Apologist of the Great Awakening who led the revival in Northampton, Massachusetts. Although this period of religious high is referred to as “The First Great Awakening,” historians still debate whether or not this grandiose title is deserved.

In the book Shopkeeper’s millennium by Paul E. Johnson, it’s a new explanation of the relationships between the economy ,religion and politics during the Second Great awakening. Revivals mostly seemed as a spiritual disorder. This all happened among the working class. Johnson talks about the political practices in the beginning between the elites and the reform movements until the revival evened up in the Rochester community. Charles Finney studied the law practice first but them in 1821 he got in a religious conversation. After that he dropped his law practice and went to become an evangelist , he then was licensed by the Presbyterians.

Some called it the Second Great Awakening because it “raised people’s hopes for the second coming of the Christian messiah and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.” (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 10-7) With industrialization on the rise and new cities in development, many people began to take certain aspects of culture as symbols of evil. The Second Great Awakening was a way to prevent evil in American cities in the hope of creating a perfect Christian society. “Revivalists strove for large-scale conversions. Rural women, men, and children traveled long distances to camp meetings, where they heard fiery sermons preached day and night from hastily constructed platforms and tents in forests or fields.” (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 10-7) Many people were traveling great distances to hear sermons because they were persuaded to believe that society needed to be cleansed before the messiah’s return. The most popular preachers of this revival were Lyman Beecher and Charles G. Finney. These two preachers “argued that evil was avoidable,” and anyone could be cleansed from sin. (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 10-7a) Charles G. Finney was a law-turned-Presbyterian minister who conducted revivals in towns along the Erie Canal. Finney was most successful in conversions in New York. New York at the time was experiencing a high level of technologic change. Along with technologic advancement

In the book, “ Shopkeeper's millennium” by Paul E. Johnson, he argues that the American revivalism in the nineteenth century was a product of class conflict, not individual social insecurity. In his book, Johnson marks the social beginnings of revival religion by analyzing Rochester, New York the development of classes as community moves towards industrialization, and examines the role of religion in this transformation. Johnson compares the working and middle class cultures of the city through the analysis of social, economic, and religious changes. The working class were refusing to obey their masters, but the Second Great Awakening calmed them down and they accepted the middle-class viewpoints. Johnson feels that revivals had little

The First Great Awakening spread throughout the 13 colonies as an emotional religious revival movement from 1720s to 1740s that appeared due to the increase of secularism and rationalism religion in which evangelist had challenged established denominations and pushed towards a more personal relationship with God (3 + 12).The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival movement from in the 19th century, which called for an individualized relationship between the people and God, promoting it through Baptist and Methodist beliefs, which held a more egalitarian attitude in the case of everyone being able to achieve salvation. The First Great Awakening and Second Great Awakening both transformed religious ideology by introducing individualism, a belief where men have a closer and direct relationship with God. The First and Second Great Awakenings had a transformation in their methods of worship with a change in venue, with the First Great Awakening having people preach to the masses on the street corners outside; while in the Second Great Awakening, having revivals and camp meetings with people screaming and jumping, a change from the traditional, to a wholly new method of worship.

The Kingdom of Matthias, written by Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz, examines the story of the self proclaimed prophet Matthias, formerly known as Robert Matthews. They tell the story of how Matthias built his kingdom based on his religious beliefs related to the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement that took place during the early nineteenth century. During this time period women played the role as the caregivers who stayed at home with the children while their husbands were out working. However, it wasn’t until the Second Great Awakening that women began to play a more dominant role in society, especially in the church. Matthias was one of the main people who was directly impacted by the effects of the Second Great Awakening and the power it gave to women. Throughout Matthias’ life he had numerous troubles with women and this continued to show throughout the reign of his kingdom. Johnson and Wilentz saw that the empowerment of women in the Second Great Awakening was a factor in the demise of Matthias’ demise Kingdom. Matthias refuses the ideas of the Second Great Awakening by making sure that women in his kingdom are subordinate and condemns those who are not. [inserts thesis statement]

The Kingdom of Matthias by Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz is a story of the rise and fall of a religious cult established by Robert Matthews (Matthias). Within his kingdom, Matthias and his followers, abided by Matthias, believes of the subjugation of women by men. Even though at the time the cult was in existence the United States was experiencing two great movements that urged the forward progression of women, the Market Revolution and the Second Great Awakening. Two women in particular are mentioned in Johnson and Wilentz’ book that were really suppressed by Matthias and his subjects. One was Isabella van Wagenen, the slave that worked in Mount Zion and even Matthias’ own daughter Isabella Matthews Laisdell. The Kingdom of Matthias

People began to reject an entirely patriarchal society, and adopted new ideas in regards to domesticity. However, Matthews wanted to ensure that women remained inferior to men in his kingdom. American life during the early nineteenth century in Matthew’s New York area was soon controlled by Matthias’ attitude towards gender. He openly displayed the fury he felt as a result of this feminist movement, and as a result of women being granted too much power in the 1830s. Matthias handled his anger in brutal ways. Johnson and Wilentz explain, “[a]gainst the Finneyites' feminized spirituality of restraint Smith and Matthias (each in his own way) resurrected an ethos of fixed social relations and paternal power. Yet as they saw things, they were defenders of ancient truth against the perverse claims of arrogant, affluent, and self-satisfied enemies of God. And a majority of those Americans who were exposed to Finneyite evangelicalism apparently shared their anti-Finneyite views, if not their spiritual inventions and revelations” (Johnson and Wilentz, 80). Defending the “ancient truth”, or in other words, conservative Old-Testament views was of the utmost importance to Matthews and

Matthew Lewis’s The Monk, published in 1796, depicts the Catholic Church in Madrid as the victim of religious perversion caused by the pride and lust of its leaders. The events of the novel, including the monk Ambrosio’s surrender to temptation, leading to the rape and murder of innocent Antonia, as well as Agnes’s imprisonment by the vain Prioress of St. Clare’s Convent, serve to emphasize the lack of true religious devotion in the city of Madrid. However, despite the shocking events of the novel, the city had already fallen prey to temptation, and had ultimately strayed from the path of the Church long before these new atrocities took place.