Dbql And John Calvinism

However, religion remained crucial in the daily life of colonists. One of the main issues that the church faced at the beginning of the eighteenth century was the fact that many settlers lived outside the reach of organized churches. These settlers/pioneers would be unable to attend churches and religious gatherings. Only small parts of generations remained tied to the church, but their piety weakened over time. As American thinking became more scientific and settlers became wealthier, colonists desired a more relaxing way of life. Strict religions soon eased and people started believing what they thought was right. Observation and reason soon began to overwhelm religious thinking, reliance on traditions or church beliefs, and faith in god for acquiring knowledge. The Enlightenment had a plus effect on religion. Some Christians would later discover that the enlightened view of the world was consistent with certain Christian beliefs. They used this observation as a support for the existence of God. Preachers soon incorporated reason and natural law in their sermons to explain how God functions through natural accounts without giving up their belief that He is the main cause of everything. Though the Enlightenment helped Priests explain the existence of God it at the same time led Protestants in a different direction. Anglicans and other Congregationalists started criticizing doctrines with regard to the nature of God, arguing that he was philanthropic, rather than the divine ruler of the world. Others questioned God’s purity, thinking he was entirely human. These positions further increased distaste for spiritual excitement of religious enthusiasm throughout Protestants and Anglicans.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is widely recognized as one of America’s most profound Theologians. Some might even consider him the master of Puritan revival, since he was the leader of the Great Awakening. During his time he was a devout Calvinist who had the power of single-handedly keeping the Puritan faith strong for over twenty-five years, by using vivid imagery to provoke his audience. Edward's dialect was exquisitely influential and yet wielded with class and ease. This essay argues that Edwards was a prestigious theologian in his time that helped shape modern religious culture.

Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher in pre-colonial times, composed a sermon that was driven to alert and inject neo Puritanical fear into an eighteenth century congregation. This Bible based and serious audience sought after religious instruction and enlightenment. Through the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards offers a very harsh interpretation to humankind. Edwards utilizes various rhetorical techniques to evoke an emotional response in his audience and to persuade the members of his congregation that their wicked actions will awaken a very ruthless and merciless God.

The Great Awakening also played a role in government and society. The Great Awakening was based on a wave of rivals that were an attempt to keep churches and religion from dying in an era that believed that nature held more answers that the Bible. The Great Awakening allowed for ministers like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards to share their ideas about God’s vengeful supremacy and for the first time sermons were being aimed at colonist’s hearts, instead of their heads. These revivals awakened and refreshed the colonists, allowing them to forget the anxiety and uncertainty that they had about America at the time, as well as Great Britain affect on their new home. The sermons communicated the message that every soul in fact was important to God, as well as that both men and women had to choose to be saved, making religion a very personal experience that once was very generalized.

As many religious leaders before and after him, Edwards's source of inspiration and guidance is the Bible. His understanding of this cornerstone of New England society enables him to reinforce a persuasive dissertation with biblical quotes and passages; however, not all the quotes cited by

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 Americas history, religion has played a major role in society. In Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural, Lincoln uses religion in an effort to reunite the North and South and to justify slavery and its end. Likewise, in the Declaration of Independence, religion is used to unite the colonies and justify the Declaration to Britain and the American people. The religious beliefs of early America are not respected and are used as common ground to unite the people and legitimize actions.

As the Protestant Reformation lead to oppression of outside opinions and beliefs, many peoples took this opportunity to start anew in colonial America. However, each region adopted a slightly different religion. For example, New England became a stable platform for Protestants. As the Church of England underwent radical changes, some Englishmen opposed these changes due to their striking similarities to Catholicism, and therefore sought a new religion, Protestantism (Foner p.64). In order to avoid oppression and discrimination of their new religion in England, many fled to America in hopes of seeking religious tolerance. Some settled in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Protestantism preached about the importance of sermons, equality, and even adopted John Calvin’s idea of pre-determined salvation (Foner p. 65). Winthrop and the first settlers of Massachusetts set up a Commission in which Puritan beliefs governed society. For example,

The First Awakening began in New England where John Edwards was a new light minister known for Sinners in the “Hand of an Angry God.” Many new light ministers saw state supported churches as obstacles to expressing faith. It is said that the First Awakening spurred the American Revolution. Edward’s emotional sermon caused people to leave state churches in large quantities. As the number of church memberships dwindled, people began to question aspects of their daily lives such as religion and the government.

Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who sparked the era of the Great Awakening with his most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The Great Awakening was an era in the 18th

A restructuring of religious doctrine, beliefs, and social practices during the 17th and 18th centuries in England, and in North America, infused with Calvinistic religious doctrine initiated the beginning of The Great Awakening. Following this further, according to Christine Leigh Heyrman, The First Great Awakening: Divining America,” a New Age of faith rose to counter the currents of the Age of Enlightenment. Ultimately reaffirming the view that being truly religious meant trusting the heart rather than the head, prizing feeling more than thinking, and relying on biblical revelation rather than human reason. After a while, several religious revivals sprung forth appeasing the colonists in America desire for a deep and significant personal relationship with God. Thus, this dogma spread to other denominations throughout the colonies in America (Heyrman).” As a result, The Great Awakening spread throughout the middle colonies in America by notable revivalist preachers instituting moderate Calvinistic doctrinal theology especially for the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists, and opened the door to unprecedented world societal changes.

During the early eighteenth century between 1730 and 1750, a resurgence in religious fervor known as the First Great Awakening developed throughout the thirteen British Colonies. As the European Enlightenment ideas of reason and logic in all things began to grow in Europe and the colonies, the First Great Awakening derived from an attempt to restore the predominance of emotion and spiritual piety in religion. Likewise, throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, the Second Great Awakening again invigorated religious zeal in the United States in response to the growing secularism in America and complacency of religious believers. The First Great Awakening’s prominent figures, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, discredited the socially stratified religious ideology of established churches such as the Christ Church and popularized the religious ideology of fervent personal connections with God and the principles of spiritual guilt and Calvinist predestination, or the selective and predetermined salvation and damnation of people. From the First Great Awakening also arose the decrease in traditional church parish worship and the appearance of emotionally impassioned itinerant preachers in the thirteen colonies and the mass preaching to emotional crowds outside. The Second Great Awakening eroded Calvinist predestination, and instead religions such as Methodists and Baptists professed the equality of all before God and salvation for all who repent for their sins and

Religion had a big impact in shaping what America is today. Religion still has a big role in modern American society, even with the emergence of Scientific belief systems which would have been condemned in colonial America. Religion has the capability of shaping its follower’s entire lives, countless people lived and died to preserve their spot in the afterlife. One of the key reasons many chose to immigrate to America was for freedom of religion. Religion is the belief of something beyond what is scientifically proven. Many different religious sects moved to America for various reasons. In this essay, we will examine some of the major religious groups of Colonial America and their effect on shaping America.

Religion has been around since the discovery of America. Many European immigrants came to America to escape the traditions of the Church of England. The people wanted religious freedom. Most, however, tried to force their religious beliefs on the people who came to settle in their colonies creating a divide. It wasn’t until The Great Awakening, which started in the New England colonies, occurred that people rose up and revolted against the norms of religion and began to worship the way they wanted to. This divisive time period greatly impacted the American colonies by allowing true religious freedom to all the people.

belief, the church and religion in general provided an immense amount of influence on the