The Great Awakenning: George Whitefield

 

  The Great Awakening during the Enlightenment period occurred in the early 1700s. This was when the people began to differentiate from the views of the church. In England and America the people began questioning the church and its role. Many broke away from the churches and formed new ones because of this. Others began preaching what they believed and one man specifically became highly demanded for his incredible preaching skills. George Whitefield became an important figure that helped expand the Great Awakening. He gave his first sermon in his hometown and in 1737 he traveled to Georgia to help an Orphan House. A year later he went back to England and in 1739 he traveled back to America. His fame became evident when he went to Philadelphia to preach and thousands of people rushed to hear his sermons. At the young age of 25 he was known as “the boy preacher.” His sermons became so popular that his audience would reach 20,000 to 30,000 people. Benjamin Franklin also noticed what an impressive preacher Whitefield was when he wrote in his journal that everywhere he went Psalms were sung. Franklin wrote “it seemed as if all the world were growing religious” (Cauchi) in his journal. When Whitefield first arrived in America he saw some potential in expanding the religious environment, but it still lacked the knowledge of Christ. He went on to open people’s minds with his revivals. This movement eventually gained enough support to have a school open up in support of the revivals in 1741. This school became known as Princeton. It was opposed at first by the faculty at Harvard and Yale, but with all the backing that the revivalisms received they could not prevent from Princeton to be established. George Whitefield had impacted an immense amount of people’s lives and had converted many more.

 

Works Cited

Cauchi, Tony . "The First Great Awakening in America - George Whitefield." Revival Library.            Electronic Copyright, n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2012.

"Some Figures of the Great Awakening." Great Awakening: Analysis and Information on the First Great Awakening. In Association with Amazon. Web. 27 Nov 2012.

-Ana Juan