The Great Awakening was a series of American Christian revivals. There were three or four (depending on how you identify them) Great Awakenings in American history.
The First Great Awakening (c. 1730-1755) was spearheaded by Protestant evangelical ministers and produced a profound sense of conviction of sin and an awareness of one’s need for God. As opposed to the Second Great Awakening of the late 18th to early 19th centuries, this was more focused on the revitalization of existing church members.
This Awakening emphasized emotional involvement and personal commitment – in opposition to those more traditionally-minded who focused on tradition, ritual, and doctrine. The Great Awakening revitalized many denominations in the American colonies.
Evangelists like George Whitefield visited many places in the Americas and influenced many people to piety. The free press already largely existent in the Colonies published much material to this end. Preaching even changed, from merely reading sermons to a focus on making the material engaging and communicable, without compromising theological truth.
The Great Awakening was punctuated, in some areas, by emotional excesses that worried many of the traditionalists. Jonathan Edwards’ book Religious Affections was written as an analysis of the Great Awakening, and a guide for distinguishing a true movement of God from mere emotion. The bottom line for Edwards was that true spiritual works point solely to the glory of God while emotional excesses do not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Awakening
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yurqqCYISTiguJNVW4LaPZ4lC2uSHbau/edit
