This presentation explains the facts, causes and pros and cons of the effects of the Second Great Awakening upon American Christianity.

1. Jason Sauder
The Bible & American Culture
Mr. Justin Harbin
11 November 2014
The GGoooodd,, tthhee BBaadd,, aanndd tthhee UUggllyy ooff
AAmmeerriiccaa’’ss SSeeccoonndd BBiigg RReevviivvaall
Known as “The Second Great Awakening”

2. I. What was The Second Great Awakening?
• The Second Great Awakening began in about 1780
after the American Revolution. It lasted until about
1830 and it left a permanent imprint on America’s
religious life (Hatch 6).
• The second great awakening was not an abstract idea of
“revivalism” that mysteriously swelled during this time.
Rather, it was something that happened to people and
by people, who may or may not have been led by God.
“The first third of the nineteenth century experienced a
period of religious ferment, chaos, and originality
unmatched in American history.” –Nathan O. Hatch

3. II.. WWhhaatt wwaass TThhee SSeeccoonndd GGrreeaatt AAwwaakkeenniinngg??
•It was not a brilliantly planned response by the
religious elites to the challenges of the day.
•It was “Christianity… effectively reshaped by
common people (Hatch 9).”
•It was essentially the wildly successful democratization
of Christianity (Hatch 9).
•It was the main turning point which distinguished
America from other nations where freedom and religion
often led in opposite directions (Hatch 5).

4. I. What was The Second Great Awakening?
Aw The leaders of The Second Great Awaakkeenniinngg ddeemmooccrraattiizzeedd
CChhrriissttiiaanniittyy iinn aatt lleeaasstt tthhrreeee wwaayyss::
• They denied the distinction between clergy and
ordinary men and they refused to respect those who
were trained in theology (Hatch 9).
• They accepted the spiritual impulses of common folk,
rather than “subjecting them to the scrutiny of
orthodox doctrine (Hatch 10).”
• They were religious outsiders who became very
successful religious leaders (Hatch 10).

5. II. What Caused The Second Great
Awakening?
TThhrreeee mmaajjoorr ccaauusseess……
1. The American Revolution
2. The Enlightenment
3. The free market of religious
ideas

6. IIII.. WWhhaatt CCaauusseedd TThhee SSeeccoonndd GGrreeaatt
AAwwaakkeenniinngg??
Cause #1: The American Revolution
• This victory fueled enthusiasm for freedom,
autonomy, individualism, equality and disdain
for authority and high class.
• In the name of equality and freedom, people
were enthusiastically erasing the boundaries
between the gentleman and the commoner
(Hatch 44).
• These factors led to an anti-clerical outburst.

7. II. What Caused The Second Great
Awakening?
Cause #2: The
Enlightenment
• Enlightenment thinking had heavily influenced
the framers of America.
• This ideology was influencing the masses by
increasing reliance on individual reason and
undermining reliance on divine revelation and
received tradition.
• The Second Great Awakening adapted to these
demands.

8. II. What Caused The Second Great
Awakening?
Cause #3: The free market of Religious Ideas
•America became a competitive, mmaarrkkeett--ddrriivveenn ssoocciieettyy
aanndd tthhiiss bbeeccaammee tthhee ppaarraaddiiggmm ffoorr rreelliiggiioonn..
•IInn tthhiiss ccoommppeettiittiivvee eennvviirroonnmmeenntt,, rreelliiggiioouuss mmoovveemmeennttss
aanndd lleeaaddeerrss wwhhoo uusseedd mmoorree aaggggrreessssiivvee mmeeaannss ooff
rreeccrruuiittmmeenntt eennjjooyyeedd aann aaddvvaannttaaggee ((HHaattcchh 1155))..
•OOuuttssiiddeerrss wweerree aallssoo ddeevveellooppiinngg aa lloooossee tthheeoollooggyy tthhaatt
mmoorree cclloosseellyy rreesseemmbblleedd wwhhaatt tthhee lloowweerr ccllaassss bbeelliieevveedd
((HHaattcchh 4455))..

9. IIII.. WWhhaatt CCaauusseedd TThhee SSeeccoonndd GGrreeaatt
AAwwaakkeenniinngg??
In addition, traditional denominations were not
ready for the demands of the Enlightenment and
Democracy, as well as various social needs.
•For instance, the frontier was unsettled by many
of the same complaints the colonies had raised
against Britain.
•Graduates of Harvard and Yale were far from
eager to accept or create pastoral posts on the
harsh frontier (Hatch 30, 59).

10. III. What happened?
There were five major religious movements
within the Second Great Awakening :
1. The “Christian” movement
2. Methodists
3. Baptists
4. Black churches
5. Mormons (Hatch 4).
© The Barna Group, Ltd, 2009.

11. III. What happened?
These five movements were wildly theologically
divergent; however they all shared certain characteristics.
•f This was a time of “evangelistic feerrvvoorr aanndd ppooppllaarr ssoovveerreeiiggnnttyy””
(HHaattcchh 99))..
•TThheeyy aallll wwoorrkkeedd ttiirreelleessssllyy,, hhaadd aa ppaassssiioonn ffoorr eexxppaannssiioonn aanndd hhoossttiilliittyy ttoo
oorrtthhooddooxxyy (HHaattcchh 44))..
•AA mmaarrkk ooff tthheessee rreelliiggiioouuss mmoovveemmeennttss wwaass aa ccoommmmiittmmeenntt ttoo llaayy
pprreeaacchhiinngg..
•TThhee oonnllyy pprreerreeqquuiissiitteess ttoo aa ppoossiittiioonn ooff lleeaaddeerrsshhiipp iinn mmaannyy
mmoovveemmeennttss wweerree aa sseennssee ooff ddiivviinnee ccaalllliinngg aanndd aa ttaalleenntt ffoorr mmoovviinngg
ppeeooppllee (HHaattcchh 113344))..

12. III. What happened?
A newly established network of religious
communication formed from itinerate preachers, an
explosion of printed material and camp meetings.
This new network meant that clergymen were
no longer the unrivaled source of information.
There was also a cultural shift which made
clergymen a smaller and smaller percentage of
educated professionals.
The end result was that people had to make up their own
minds on religious matters and the audience became the
ultimate judge.
These changes in turn lead to a shift from a relatively
coherent Christian culture to a pluralistic one (Hatch
126).

13. III. What happened?
Calvinism had been highly respected…
until now.
• Calvinism was painted as a tyrannical theology and this
was enough to damn it in the common mind (Hatch
170).
• In fact, a hatred of Calvinism united the otherwise
diverse movements spawned by the Second Great
Awakening (Hatch 172).
• Enlightenment common sense was used to undermine
Calvinism.
• This movement eventually failed to even consider the
traditional theological categories.

14. III. What happened?
The most rreemmaarrkkaabbllee ffeeaattuurree ooff tthhiiss mmoovveemmeenntt wwaass
iittss ffaasscciinnaattiinngg ggrroouupp ooff llaayy lleeaaddeerrss..
•These leaders were “bold, self-educated, self-confident…
inventive [and] charismatic,” but they
“differed radically in theological outlook and
organizational intent” (Hatch 56).
•Without formal training, they went outside the
normal denominational lines to form huge followings
through “the democratic art of persuasion” (Hatch
13).
•This new type of minister, by necessity, had to be
keenly attuned to popular sentiment.

15. III. What happened?
•These new leaders embraced an outlook that was
individualistic and modern (DAC 14). One of the
reasons these new leaders were so effective at
communicating is that they identified with
common people by, among other things, speaking
in the vernacular.
•In this new model, ironically, the audience granted
authority to “leaders” whose person and message and
style best resonated with their own interests (DAC 134).
•Three of the prominent leaders were Francis
Asbury, Lorenzo Dow and Charles Finney.
Finney is particularly interesting…

16. III. What happened?
Finney was ordained in a traditional Presbyterian
Church (Hatch 196). He was “self taught, blunt
and immensely persuasive” (Hatch196). He
quickly became the most in demand preacher of
the Second Great Awakening (Hatch 196).
But there was a problem.
Finney called for a fundamental shift in theology from
being God-focused to being audience-focused (Hatch
197). However, whatever is the focus of your theology is
your God. In fact, Charles Finney was not even a
Christian…

17. III. What happened?
“Full present obedience is a condition of
justification… simultaneously justified and sinful…
this error has slain more souls… whenever a
Christian sins, he comes under condemnation… and
must do his first works or be lost… As has already
been said, there can be no justification in a legal or
forensic sense, but upon the ground of universal,
perfect, and uninterrupted obedience to the law…
The doctrine of an imputed righteousness, or that
Christ’s obedience to the law was accounted as our
obedience, is founded on a most false and
nonsensical assumption, for Christ’s righteous could
do no more than justify himself… It was naturally
impossible, then for him to obey in our behalf.”
(Horton 45).
-Charles Finney

18. IV. The Mixed Legacy
The legacy of the Second Great Awakening is loaded with irony.
• These leaders and movements became successful because they
were outsiders and common but their success meant that this
was no longer the case and most of these movements
succumbed to the pull of respectability.
• In the end, in order to establish a stable tradition, the
movements that emerged in the Second Great Awakening had to
take on the very features they had rejected, such as educational
institutions and theology (Hatch 195).
• Therefore, a new generation of reformers rejected them for the
same reasons they had originally rejected the establishment;
creating a virtually unending cycle of division (Hatch 195).

19. IV The Mixed Legacy
• Ironically this movement espoused the belief that theology
lead to fighting and division and that a return to a simple faith
based on common sense, the Bible alone and emotion would
restore peace and unity (Hatch 163). In reality, this movement
produced an unprecedented splintering and division within
Christianity and often spilled over into heterodoxy. This has
undermined the credibility of Christianity
• The common people became the authority and those who
trafficked in ideas were sidelined. Because of this, America
never produced another theologian like Jonathan Edwards
(Hatch 162). In modern America, Christianity is still largely led
by popular leaders rather than Christianity’s greatest thinkers.
• This movement undermined the intelligence of American
Christianity in general.. Timothy Dwight summarized the
problem- “While they demand a seven-year apprenticeship for
the purpose of learning to make a shoe, or an axe; they
suppose the system of Providence, together with the
numerous, and frequently abstruse, doctrines and precepts,
contained in the Scriptures, may be all comprehended without
learning labour, or time” (Hatch 19).

20. IV The Mixed Legacy
Benefits of the Second Great Awakening
• -It striped preaching of its flowery and unnecessarily sophisticated
speech. Such speech is at odds with the humbling message of the
Gospel.
• -It dramatically increased the size and influence of its type of
Christianity in this country.
• -It took seriously the call to minister to those despised by society.
• -Though flawed, it had a strong emphasis on recruitment or
witnessing.
• -It encouraged ministers to forsake cultural acclaim and affluence.
• -Though also flawed, it encouraged people to think for themselves
about what they believed.

21. IV The Mixed Legacy
The dark side…
•Popularity became mmoorree iimmppoorrttaanntt tthhaann TTrruutthh..
•CChhrriissttiiaanniittyy’’ss tthheeoollooggiiccaall ssaaffeegguuaarrddss wweerree rreemmoovveedd..
•CCoonnsseeqquueennttllyy,, mmaannyy wweerree aaddmmiitttteedd iinnttoo tthhee cchhuurrcchh aanndd
eevveenn iinnttoo nnaattiioonnaall lleeaaddeerrsshhiipp wwhhoo wweerree nnoott eevveenn
CChhrriissttiiaannss..
•CChhrriissttiiaanniittyy’’ss iinntteelllleecctt wwaass sseerriioouussllyy ddaammaaggeedd aass tthhee ffooccuuss
sshhiifftteedd ttoo eemmoottiioonn aanndd sseennssaattiioonnaalliissmm..
•CChhrriissttiiaanniittyy iinn tthhee SSeeccoonndd GGrreeaatt aawwaakkeenniinngg lloosstt iittss
ssoouurrccee ooff aauutthhoorriittyy..
•TThhee SSeeccoonndd GGrreeaatt AAwwaakkeenniinngg mmaaddee ddaannggeerroouuss
ccoommpprroommiisseess wwiitthh nnoonn-CChhrriissttiiaann iiddeeaass,, ssuucchh aass tthhee
cceennttrraalliittyy ooff tthhee iinnddiivviidduuaall aanndd tthhee ssuupprreemmaaccyy ooff
aauuttoonnoommoouuss rreeaassoonn..

22. Works Cited
Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity.
Yale University Press, New Haven: 1989.
Horton, Michael. Christless Christianity: the Alternative Gospel of
the American Church. Baker Publishing Group, Grand
Rapids, MI: 2008.