Presbyterian’s and the Second Great awakening

[Chas Brewer]

I’ve been doing some reading into the Second Great awakening and I discovered that a lot of the preachers where Presbyterian. Charles Finney was ordained a Presbyterian the men leading the Cane Ridge Revival where Presbyterian and some of leaders in the revival’s in North Carolina where Presbyterian. My question is why where there “Reformed” men leading these revivals when reformed theology is opposed to those kinds of revivals. Also how where they ordained with there werid theology.

 

[J.L. Allen]

I’ve been doing some reading into the Second Great awakening and I discovered that a lot of the preachers where Presbyterian. Charles Finney was ordained a Presbyterian the men leading the Cane Ridge Revival where Presbyterian and some of leaders in the revival’s in North Carolina where Presbyterian. My question is why where there “Reformed” men leading these revivals when reformed theology is opposed to those kinds of revivals. Also how where they ordained with there werid theology.

The examples you've given, as far as I know, departed from the confessional standards they at point claimed to uphold in their ordination vows.

 

[RamistThomist]

They were very consistent with the teachings of revival.

 

[Jake]

Weakness in ordination requirements is the shortest answer.

I suggest reading Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858 by Iain Murray

A good follow-up is Evangelicalism Divided: A Record of Crucial Change in the Years 1950-2000 also by Murray.

 

[jwithnell]

The question really goes back to George Whitefield and his bringing revivalism and the holiness movement into the heart of the American religious experience. Notice I said "experience" rather than "church." One has supplanted the other ever since.

Several people from Notre Dame of all places offer great insight including George Marsden, Mark Noll, and Nathan Hatch. (I'm reading the Democratization of American Christianity now.)

Finney outright rejected reformed doctrine and wasn't particularly educated to begin with. Itinerant preachers, outside the restraining effects of the organized church; those "preaching in the spirit" specifically without an education to get in the way; and a stripping of the faith down to a few emotional phrases has had a devastating effect. This isn't Presbyterianism in any way.

 

[RamistThomist]

Another angle to explore: did revival mean a renewal of church membership and the means of grace? It almost certainly did not. One could even make the argument that the First Great Awakening, the one that we like, was just as guilty.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

That's interesting. Where do you get that information from? I've learned that prior to the second great awakening, church membership was very low, and then grew immensely because of it. I just did a quick search.

"In reality, historians estimate that only about 30–40% of Americans were members of churches or regularly attended church in the late-eighteenth century around the time of the founding of our nation. By 1850, however, that number was closer to 75–80%. That increase is largely attributed to the effects of a late 18th and early 19th century religious revival movement known as the Second Great Awakening."

Thanks!

 

[RamistThomist]

That's interesting. Where do you get that information from? I've learned that prior to the second great awakening, church membership was very low, and then grew immensely because of it. I just did a quick search.

"In reality, historians estimate that only about 30–40% of Americans were members of churches or regularly attended church in the late-eighteenth century around the time of the founding of our nation. By 1850, however, that number was closer to 75–80%. That increase is largely attributed to the effects of a late 18th and early 19th century religious revival movement known as the Second Great Awakening."

Thanks!

The original leaders of the first awakening, notably Frelinghuysen, were hostile to the clergy. As to the 2nd one, Baptists and Methodist churches exploded in membership. So on that point there would be more people in churches. I suppose my complaint was more along the lines of a loss in Reformed piety.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

The original leaders of the first awakening, notably Frelinghuysen, were hostile to the clergy. As to the 2nd one, Baptists and Methodist churches exploded in membership. So on that point there would be more people in churches. I suppose my complaint was more along the lines of a loss in Reformed piety.

Yeah, and it seems like we are reaping the repercussions of that even to this day. It's like largely we claim to be a Christian nation still, but how serious are we about discipleship?

 

[jwithnell]

To use a modern day example, has the church substantially grown in numbers and influence as a result of the 1960s-70s "Jesus Movements" and Billy Graham crusades? Why aren't fully-functioning churches flourishing with the thousands, hundred thousands, and millions of people who made "decisions" for Christ? We have plenty of people who insist they're fine with just their Bibles at home and weak-as-rinse-water large gatherings of people attracted to smoke and light shows. It's even fashionable in some parts of the country to throw on a hat and announce rallies for God and country, but the church is hardly flourishing now any more than it was during the camp meetings and improvement societies of the 1800s. If you pick up Mark Noll's book on the Civil War you'll see how widely spread pious speach was at the time (every other paragraph in personal letters used the term "providence") but no-one could agree on what those terms meant much less grow Biblically sound churches.