GEORGE WHITFIELD: 1714-1770
TARON EDWARDS
September 28th, 2015
What manner of man is this! This verse of scripture; Matthew 8:27 is from the Bible, and references Jesus’ Lordship from birth to his death, but can also be used to describe George Whitfield, theologian from England. According to information gleaned from an article in Conservapedia on Whitfield’s personal history and significant milestones in his life, George Whitfield was born in Gloucester, England; the youngest of seven children, the son of a saloon operator; who died when George was two. Also noteworthy, Whitfield married Elizabeth James in Wales on November 14, 1741, and on October 4, 1743, one son was born, named John, who died at age four months, the following
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Whitfield brought the colonists in America Calvinism, which changed Christianity at that juncture, and at the present time around the world.
Case in point, The Great Awakening is recorded in history as a restructuring of the religious doctrine, beliefs, and practices in New England during the 17th and 18th centuries and in North America. As a result, several religious revivals sprung forth as the colonists in America desired a deeper, meaningful personal relationship with God which promised eternal salvation by one’s faith alone. In other words; The Great Awakening’s introduction of moderate Calvinism caused a crusade to change how religious doctrine had been taught and how people believed.
As a matter of record; Calvinism’s foundation is however embedded in the theological realm of Christianity, for example Calvinism defined according to the Encyclopedia of World Biography article, is the theological system of Christian interpretation initiated by theologian John Calvin that emphasizes predestination and salvation which at a point in time Whitfield validated as well. To illustrate old Calvinism; old Calvinism is based on five tenets accordant to the article, What Do Arminian and Arminianism Mean?
The five views of Calvinism (TULIP) were developed in response to denying God His sovereignty and puts man in control of his own salvation; known as the
George would later attend Oxford to obtain his undergraduate degree. It was at school that George was introduced to John Wesley through his participation in the Holy Club. Mark Noll explained this time by saying, “Whitefield had been an Oxford undergraduate of very modest means when he was recruited into the Holy Club where John Wesley and his brother, the hymn writer Charles, were prominent”. Noll goes on to say that it was through the participation in the club that George was saved. After Whitefield graduated his talent for preaching was almost immediately recognized. He was asked to travel to many churches throughout England preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. Arnold Dallimore explained that during this time that people would simply try to touch George’s garments as he passed them. Though Whitefield had celebrity type success in England he was called to continue his preaching in America.
The Great Awakening brought together provinces, and furthermore acknowledgment of religious resilience. These two periods of the eighteenth century greatly affected American culture and how individuals think previously, then after these movemments. The Enlightenment changed individuals' view on legislative issues, religion, and human instinct, and The Great Awakening acknowledged religious resilience. Enlightenment for the most part affected instructed individuals in the American states. Even though the Enlightenment initially started in Europe, it spread to America. The Great Awakening brought assorted variety; it was caused by reestablishment of religion after many individuals in the provinces moved in the opposite direction of religion. The Great Awakening conveyed Christianity to individuals who strayed away from
To begin, the Great Awakening took place during the early 1730’s. It was a period where religious revivals were spreading along the Atlantic coast. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards would go around and try to get people back into Christianity. One reason why colonist turned away from Christianity was because of the Enlightenment. He would describe hell and heaven trying to convince colonist to rejoin christianity.
The first great practitioner of the new evangelical Calvinism was Lyman Beecher. Beecher led thousands to accept their sinfulness and surrender to God.
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.
The First Great Awakening was a religious movement that took place between 1720 and 1750, affecting every colony and greatly affecting history (Garrigus). People started feeling that religion was dull and not as significant as it once was seen (Ppt). Preachers began to feel like people were not putting their emotions on their faith. They wanted people to be physically and emotionally involved (Garrigus). This is where Christians began to turn away from the standard approach of worship. The Great Awakening created a substantial change on how early American’s viewed worship, social standards, political standards, economical standards, and Christianity.
As the Age of Enlightenment gradually came to an end, the British American colonists were ready to progress beyond the ideology of human reason and depend solely on biblical revelation. During the eighteenth century, a great movement known as the First Great Awakening swept through Protestant Europe and America, leaving a permanent impact on
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.
Jonathan Edwards, a Congregationalist minister in western Massachusetts, who was shocked at the dissipating religious spirit, believing that people were giving up to sinful pleasures. He worked against the secularization of the Enlightenment and focus on pushing the emotional side of religion by expressing the wonderful nature of Heaven and the horror of Hell, helping to renew intensity behind religion. This idea of Heaven and Hell was stated in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, intended to scare people into looking for salvation, with descriptions of people being held over a fire in Hell. This is expressive of the change of social norms in Puritan New England, where going to the Minister’s house as opposed to the Tavern was acceptable. This also shows the more individualized ideals people had, for they were presented with the option of achieving their own salvation and take responsibility for their lives, having the option of maintaining a personal connection with God. (ch 3 txtbk)
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
Adams’s model of biblical counseling is steeped in reformed theology. The entire Nouthetic counseling system rests upon the following implications about God described in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (Powlison, 2010, p. 98).
The Great Awakenings were periods of religious revival, increasing religious enthusiasm during the early 18th century and the late 20th century. Some may say that the Great Awakenings also caused enlightenment. However, there was a tremendous increase in religious participation, and influence in other reforms as well. Therefore, the Great Awakenings tremendously influenced the development of american society prior to the American Civil War.
that they can do things on their own. They didn`t need others to interpret the
The First Great Awakening, was a religious revitalization movement that came through the Atlantic region, and even more so in the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, forever impacting American religion & is widely known as the most important event for American religion during the eighteenth century. The First Great Awakening was inspired by an English Methodist known as George Whitefield along with other ministers, when many people in the rural areas rejected the Enlighted and rational religion that came from the Cosmopolitan pulpits and port cities. George Whitefield began this movement with speaking tours through the colonies (“The Great Awakening”).
He believes that God's act of creation did not stop after He created man, but continues all throughout the past, present and future. Calvin not only believes that God cares for all of man and animals, but directs the weather and excersises His power over inanimate objects. Calvin even goes so far as to argue that the movement of the sun, moon, stars, and planets is continued by God's power and not by some energy that was given to them at the beginning of creation, which "carnal sense" would tell us (Calvin 197). He does not believe that God sits back and watches or allows things in nature to happen, but actually causes them to happen. For example, if there was a drought one summer it was caused by God, possibly part of His vengeance or wrath. Or, if the crops flourished the next summer it was also His plan. Likewise, let us say per chance (no pun intended) a man is walking along a mountain pass and some rocks fall and kill him. For Calvin this was not an accident, but a determination and the Will of God. Calvin's ideology of God's Providence in nature is summed up in this quote: