Great Awakening

Great Awakenings are commonly said to be periods of religious revival in Anglo-American religious history. They have also been described as periodic revolutions in American religious thought.

America and the Great Awakenings

Although the Great Awakenings influence and are influenced by religious thought from throughout the world, the cycle of Great Awakenings appear to be unique to the United States. This could be because the United States is home to many different denominations and sects, while remaining largely Protestant Christian. The lack of a single dominant faith or state-sanctioned religion means that new ideas can be spread without having to slowly reform existing institutions from within, or allowing pressures to build up until the existing institutions are violently overthrown. On the other hand, the established sects have enough prestige and inertia that the pressure for new ideas build into a regular cycle of (relatively - there are riots involved) bloodless revolution.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Christian

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Since religion has often been used to dictate or justify morality, the Great Awakenings have exerted influence on the politics of the United States. Joseph Tracy, the minister and historian who gave this religious phemonenon its name in his influential (and still, to many, definitive) 1842 book The Great Awakening, saw the First Great Awakening as a precursor to the War of Independence. For another example, the abolition movement, part of the wider Second Great Awakening, eventually contributed to the American Civil War.

Related Topics:
Joseph Tracy - First Great Awakening - Abolition - Second Great Awakening - American Civil War

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