#003 - God and America: The Great Awakening
During the 1700s, Christianity in the American Colonies and throughout Europe was threatened by the rising tide of skepticism, French rationalism, and the so-called Age of Reason. In many churches, the fire of enthusiasm went out, and congregations were simply going through the motions of their faith as attendance dropped and fervor waned. Just when the work of the Kingdom was a low ebb in America, Britain, and Germany, a series of incredible revivals swept over the land. In American, people were captivated by the words of theologians and preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. The Great Awakening united the Colonies in a way that transcended regional differences, infused the land with spiritual liberty, populated their pulpits with clergymen proclaiming freedom, and laid a moral foundation for the American Revolution. John Adams said: “The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations.”