What were the central outcomes and hallmark legacies of the Great Awakening?
The Great Awakening in New England 1730s – 1750s In the realm of religion, the Great Awakening: • Justified Attacks on Authority (“New Lights” against “Old Lights”) • Emphasized the Necessity of Individual Choice (e.g. the choice to repudiate authority of “Old Light” ministry) • Associated Attacks on Authority and Individual Choice with Salvation of the Individual Link to Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741) 1750-1776: From Religion to Politics: • Lessons/Habits learned in the Great Awakening applied to political and imperial issues Unlike Mather, many ministers viewed the Enlightenment with great suspicion. Rationalism seemed to undermine orthodox religious values by reducing God to a prime mover who had set the universe in motion only to leave humans to chart their own destiny. (This system of thought was known as Deism.) Others perceived a decline in religious faith, as the populace rushed to achieve material rather than spiritual abundance. For some clergym
