The Great Awakening: Book Review

In the first place, the Great Awakening defined the second half of the colonial period because the exclusive concept of revivalism destroyed existing church structures in the colonies. Years of immoral living and a casual depiction of what God and religion meant had embedded itself into the colonial youth for quite some time. There was already a distinct separation between the corrupted youth as well as the last generation to experience a religious upheaval. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Massachusetts recounts his personal experience as a minister, "they were many of them much addicted to Nightwalking, and frequently the Tavern, and lewd Practices, wherein some, by their Example, exceedingly corrupted others (Edwards 1)." These practices completely negated what any church outlined as the …show more content…
Ayers discusses how a New Jersey preacher experienced the initial idea when, "using an emotional, revivalist preaching style, he led many people to experience salvation (Ayers 99)." This emotional and individual approach put a greater significance on personal salvation instead of religious discipline. There was stressed significance on the individual as a whole over the church. Revivalism ended up facilitating a sense of guilt that held many of these individuals culpable for the sins that they committed. Equally important, the religious fervor that resulted divided societies into either the "New Lights" or the "Old Lights" putting a huge strain on the recent religious diversity (Ayers 100). The defining factions continued the estrangement between both the young and old generations. Thus, the result was fundamental church structures within the colonies were destroyed because for the first time, they were not subjected to a single religious preaching style or denomination. The Great Awakening defined the second half of the colonial period because the concept of revivalism destroyed long-standing church structure which altered future colonial