Some Results of the Great Awakening
(1) One of the major results of the Great Awakening was to unify 4/5ths of Americans in a common understanding of the Christian faith and life. Americans--North and South--shared a common evangelical view of life.
(2) Dissent and dissenters enjoyed greater respect than ever before. Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians--all non-established groups--took root and grew. Despite the fact that these denominational lines remained, they shared a common evangelical voice. Typical was the sentiment of John Wesley: "Dost thou love and fear God? It is enough! I give thee the right had of fellowship. This catholicity of spirit became common.
(3) Great emphasis came to be placed on education. George Whitefield founded the school that would latter become the University of Pennsylvania, and UNC was originally a Presbyterian effort. Indeed, the first generation of faculty members there were all Presbyterian ministers. The focus on education was rooted in a concern for souls, but it also reflected the fact that if the ground is level at the foot of the cross, education should be available for all as well.
(4) A greater sense of responsibility for Indians and Slaves emerged from the revival. George Whitefield, for instance, was among the first to preach to Blacks. The evangelical experience was common to both whites and blacks, making both aware that the ground level at foot of cross. This led most evangelicals to denounce slavery as sinful, and at the first General Conference of Methodism, slave holding was viewed as grounds for immediate expulsion from the society.
(5) The Awakening reinterpreted the meaning of the covenant between God and his creature. In Puritan theology the focus was on what God has done for us. In the aftermath of the Awakening, the new emphasis was on what man can do in response to God's great gift. The responsibility for salvation is not God's but man's.
(5) A complete dissolving of the theocracy occurred. The establishment in Virginia and North Carolina began to fall apart. Ministers could no longer control the direction of religious life. It had been democratized and made accessible by people.
(6) There was a break down in theological consensus. The New Lights (the revivalists) versus the Old Lights (traditional orthodox). Those who wanted to adapt the faith to changing times and circumstances versus those who wanted to hang on the old order.
(7) The Awakening responded--like the English Puritans of the 16 and 17th centuries--to needs of the people for reassurance and direction, to give them release from anxiety.
(8) It served to revived a sense of religious mission. Everyone believed there was some greater purpose behind the revivals, that God's Kingdom must be near.
It is important to think through why so many are so in need of relief. Drugs and alcohol may help clarify the extraordinary desire to escape 1. modern anxiety and 2. social restraint on ego and sex. Control through repression has very high social costs.
