A Place for Truth
Studies

Church in the Modern Age

American Church History of the 17th and 18th Centuries

An Overview by Charles R. Biggs

American Church History in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Notes Taken From:

S. E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (1972); D. J. Boorstin, The Americans, 3 vols. (1958-1973); W. R. Cross, The Burned Over District (1950); R. T. Handy, A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities, rev. ed. (1984); D. G. Hart, Defending the Faith (1994); N. O. Hatch, The Sacred Cause of Liberty: Millennial Thought in Revolutionary New England (1977); N. O. Hatch and M. A. Noll, The Bible in America: Essays in Cultural History, (1982); A. E. Heimert, Religion and the American Mind from the Great Awakening to the Revolution, (1966); E. B. Holifield, The Gentlemen Theologians (1980); W. S. Hudson, Religion in America, 4th ed. (1987); W. R. Hutchison, The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism (1976); C. A. Johnson, The Frontier Camp Meeting (1955); W. G. McLoughlin, ed., The American Evangelicals, 1800-1900 (1968); W. G. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform (1978); G. M. Marsden, Evangelicalism and Modern America (1984); G. M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (1980); D. G. Mathews, Religion in the Old South (1977); H. F. May, The Enlightenment in America (1976); S. E. Mead, The Lively Experiment The Shaping of American Christianity (1963); P. Miller, The Life of the Mind in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War (1965); R. M Miller, H. S. Stout, and C. R. Wilson, Religion and the American Civil War (1998); M. A. Noll et al., eds., Eerdman's Handbook to Christianity in America (1983); T. L. Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform in Mid-Nineteenth Century America, rev. ed. (1980); M. Snay, Gospel of Disunion (1996); H. S. Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England (1986); H. S. Stout and D. G. Hart, New Direction in American Religious History (1997); L. I. Sweet, ed., The Evangelical Tradition in America (1984); D. L. Weddle, The Law as Gospel: Revival and Reform in the Theology of Charles G. Finney (1985); D. F. Wells and J. D. Woodbridge, eds., The Evangelicals: What They Believe, Who They Are, How They Are Chaning, rev. ed. (1977). More bibliography can be provided upon request.

The War for American Independence and the Decline of Religion (1775-1800)

The United States were the first colonies in the world to successfully revolt against a colonial rule. This was a combination of republican and biblical beliefs that influenced each other. Some of the churches at that time were at that time were either pro-rebellion, pacifists who did not believe in war, or pro-Englishmen who supported the crown. Let us distinguish between these. The Congregationalists and Presbyterians were the greatest supporters of the war for independence. They believed:

1. They had a covenantal view of society and a government that violates God's covenant forfeits its right to obedience.



2. Religious freedom is possible only when there is political freedom.



3. That an Anglican establishment would keep them from building their own churches.

Those who opposed the American Revolution were mainly the Anglican Clergy and laymen. They believed:

1. They had a biblical requirement to submit to rulers as ordained by God.



2. They had an oath of loyalty to the king.



3. God's favor of order of British rule over the anarchy that may replace English rule.



4. British rule was an aid to Anglican Establishment.

This was the age when Thomas Jefferson and James Madison with help from the Baptists, Quakers, Mennonites, and Presbyterian allies established the First Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing religious freedom from the former Anglican Establishment.

The Revolution further established the idea that America was God's chosen nation but ironically after the war, religion declined in comparison to the great season of Awakening that had preceded in the 1740s and 1750s. Enlightenment values gained great influence after the war and this rational religion affected the people from the top down. The College of William and Mary was a hotbed of French Skepticism, Yale president Timothy Dwight reported in 1795 that out of 110 students, only two believed in God. Deism was the religion of the intellectuals and very influential in the schools and this belief denied the supernatural and believed that God revealed himself to rational men who had matured to the point that they no longer should believe in miracles and the divinity of Christ. To see this influence of Deism on the intelligentsia, the first three presidents of America held to these beliefs: George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. By the war's end in 1783, there was a movement from the East to the frontier (remember Frederick Jackson Turner's 'Frontier Thesis' for understanding the 18th century). They moved to the Appalachia, the Northwest Territory and to the South.

To better understand the period of the Revolution and the twenty or thirty years following, we should take a look at Clifford Geertz's understanding of "Sacred Symbols" in his essay "Religion as a Culutural System. "These sacred symbols function to synthesize a people's ethos-the tone, character and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic mood-and their world view-the picture they have of the way things in sheer actuality are, their most comprehensive ideas of order," writes Geertz. For most Americans the symbols have been the Judeo-Christian philosophy, modified by Calvinism and suffused with Enlightenment concepts of natural law and natural rights (see G. Wood, Creation of the American Republic; W. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings and Reform; N. Hatch, The Sacred Cause of Liberty; H. May, The Enlightenment in America for the best explanation of these ideas).

McLoughlin describes American culture with these particular "sacred symbols":

1. America as the Chosen Nation of God.



2. The Covenant with God.



3. The Millennial Manifest Destiny of America.



4. The Higher (Biblical or Natural) Law (Against which private and social behavior is to be judged).



5. The Moral Law (the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount).



6. The Laws of Science (presumed to be from the Creator, and evolutionary or progressive in their purpose).



7. The Free and Moral Responsible Individual (whose political liberty and liberty of conscience are inalienable).



8. The Work Ethic (or "Protestant ethic").

Out of these basic concepts, whose definitions have altered with each Awakening in America, has come a wide variety of other cultural "myths".:

1. The Rugged Frontiersman or Daniel Boone Myth.



2. The Yeoman Farmer or Agrarian Myth.



3. The Success or Horatio Alger Myth (featuring the captain of industry).



4. The Myth of White, Anglo-Saxon Supremacy and the Herrenvolk Myth of the Slave-Owning South.



5. The Myth of Moral Superiority, Spiritual Superiority, and Physical Frailty of Women.

Many of these myths rose to central importance during the Second Great Awakening, when they served to unite the new nation in its expansionist and nationalistic rise to power (McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings and Reform, 102-3). Before we examine the greatest leaders of the Second Great Awakening, it will help to hear McLoughlin further describe how these revivalists appealed to the people and one of the great reasons for their success. He writes, "It is the role of the revivalist, the prophet of revitalization, to sustain the reality of the culture myths, to reinterpret them with an aura of reality that grows from his own conviction that he is a messenger of God. To sustain that conviction, the revivalist must inspire in his hearers the same conviction; this occurs when those who hear him accept his sacred character and react by feeling the power of God as it emanates from his words. His words become for them God's Word, his emotional concern, God's Spirit at work, and the emotional experience of acceptance or submission becomes the work of God's grace in the hearts of believers. What the observer sees and hears in the revivalist in what gives the aura of reality to the relationship between God and man; what we believe is what we are. After we have come to believe, we can act, can organize (according to the various personal, regional, or fortuitous contingencies of our region, age, or class) into churches, congregations, denominations, and associations in order to sustain the moods and motivations that have provided us with this "real" comprehension of the general order of existence. The power of revivals and of religious organizations (and, in America, our political or reform organizations frequently have all the qualities of religious denominations) is the power we feel and perceive in the recurring cycle of God's prophetic awakenings, carrying his power into our hearts (or affections). In the Second Great Awakening, American religious leaders of all denominations learned how to routinize this power; they discovered (and trusted in) the spiritual mechanics of God's power and canalized it into the organizing process the nation sorely needed in a time of enormous growth, when it was beset by the centrifugal forces of sectionalism and individualism (McLoughlin, 104).

Finally, the mindset after the Revolution is described by Gordon S. Wood and William McLoughlin: "The patriots of '76 saw America as a city on a hill, a model for all mankind, the voice of humanity's future. It invited idealists and refugees from the Old World to join it and expected them, in the free atmosphere of republicanism, to be transformed into the vanguard for the millennium. But after the Second Awakening, American narrowed their vision. Their destiny was not Europe's or mankind's but their own. Their people were not reinvigorated immigrants but a new and special race. Their institutions were beyond the capacities of decadent Europeans, superstitious Roman Catholics, ignorant heathen, or "colored" races to imitate. God had created a unique people and elected them to establish these institutions throughout the world; they were to uplift inferior peoples who, lacking the innate capacity for republicanism, might at least be converted or adapted to it if they could learn to assimilate the ways of Christian America (From Creation of the American Republic and Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform).

The Second Great Awakening and Charles G. Finney

As you begin to understand the Second Great Awakening, keep in mind that just as the First Great Awakening was regional (i.e. New England, Middle Colonies, and the South), so was the Second Awakening. It began in New England simultaneously as in the South. In New England, there was Timothy Dwight, Lyman Beecher, and Nathaniel W. Taylor. Because of Jon Boles great scholarship (The Great Revival, Beginnings of the Southern Evangelical Mind) some historians have thought that too much emphasis has been upon the South in the Second Awakening (I think that this is for good reason. The majority of Methodist and Baptist itinerants, as well as Presbyterians Stone and Campbell, worked in the South and therefore there is a reason for the scholarship to be focused here regionally because this was the region of the "frontier revivals" and the ascendency of religion among the "commoners" the "backwoods" people who lived mainly in the South. However, this must be balanced with the growth of the "New Divinity" or "New England Theology" in New England, specifically at Yale and the Midwestern Perfectionism of Charles G. Finney). For a popular account of this Awakening see Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750-1858 by Iain H. Murray.

Under the influence of James McGready and Barton W. Stone the Second Great Awakening was brought to America and rekindled men's belief in God. This was achieved in the beginning through Camp Meetings that brought "seasons of revival" interdenominationally to the people, culminating in the Cane Ridge Revival of Kentucky in 1801 under the preaching of Barton W. Stone (see other study for the influential leaders of this revival). Can-tuck-ee, the "the dark and bloody ground" was originally part of Virginia and in the late 18th century was a frontier world which was constantly threatened by Indians. The Presybterians, Baptists and Methodists sent itinerants to this land to build churches. They cooperated among themselves to achieve revivals of religion in the region of Logan County along the Red River.

Revival also came to Yale College under the preaching of Timothy Dwight, Jonathan Edwards grandson. This camp meeting technique was so successful it caused the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians to overwhelmingly increase in their church memberships. Eventually the camp meeting technique was no longer used and there was a domestication as the these revivals now moved to camp grounds and by mid-century had transformed into Bible conferences and summer religious resorts. In central and western New York State the revivals came under the influence of Charles Grandison Finney (who was to also greatly influence the Midwest of the Ohio region). Finney was trained as a lawyer, ordained in the Presbyterian church in the 1820s, then began to go as an itinerant minister bringing his revival or "new measures" to many throughout Western New York. This encouraged ministers to try and organize the revivals which became long-term, city-wide, interdenominational evangelistic campaigns which would foreshadow the preaching of D. L. Moody at the end of the 19th century and Billy Graham of the 20th century.

What were Finney's "New Measures"? They included:

1. The participation of women in the evangelistic services;



2. He added dynamic new dimensions to the awakening and established new patterns of church life (e.g. the altar call and the "anxious seat" for those being overcome by their sinfulness and need for repentance);



3. The institutionalization of the revival for large audiences;



4. The moving of the revival from the small towns and communities and frontier towns to an urban audiences.

This led to businessmen in the 1850s who would gather people together for noon day prayer meetings and in 1858 two thousand people were in Chicago's Metropolitan Theater for daily revival services. During this time, and because of the influence of Finney, Methodist Phoebe Palmer a woman evangelist, formed the YMCA and was influential in the 1857-1858 revival (sometimes known as the Annus Mirabilis). By 1861 and the outbreak of the War Between the States "the Second Great Awakening, it seemed, had run its course. But it had established evangelical Christianity as the mainstream of American religion and had inaugurated an evangelical golden age. Biblical Christianity and democratic idealism became the hallmarks of America and Americans as the revivalists preached their decreasingly Calvinistic and increasingly Arminian gospel of "all have sinned" and "salvation for all." (see article in Dictionary of Christianity in America; Nathan O. Hatch, Democratization of American Christianity (1986).

Perry Miller has argued that the Second Great Awakening transformed Puritan covenant theology into the current of nationalism and created an ethos of evangelical democracy in America (see bibliography). This also gave impetus to a distinctly American civil religion which tried to have a public faith which was based on the Bible and individualistic beliefs of people. Not necessarily, and many times denying creeds, Christianity became a religion of the laymen. The people did not need aristocratic, educated ministers such as in the Presbyterian churches, but could study and know the Bible themselves in small bible studies and access God in a direct way without the mediation of Churches. The Methodists and Baptists were the denominational result of this thinking. These two groups were the largest denominations in America and there was a decline of Congregationalists and Episcopalians. The Baptist and Methodist ministers appealed to the "common" people on the frontier towns and were not ordained and educated aristocrats as was perceived by the people. They were itinerants who would travel throughout the country preaching in any church and congregation no matter what denominational affiliation or doctrinal belief. These were the circuit riders such as Francis Asbury of the Methodist church.

There were also new groups and denominations such as the Disciples of Christ (sometimes called the Churches of Christ or the Restoration Movement started by Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell. There were also groups such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were popularly known as Mormons and became one of the largest organized Christian heresy that the Second Great Awakening produced. There were other separatist groups such as the Adventist groups, the Unitarians, the Universalists, the Transcendentalists, the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Spiritualists. This was also the great immigration of many Roman Catholics into America as Irish-Catholics came for better opportunities and religious freedom to this country (because ultimately of the potato famine in the 1840s). These revivals also stimulated mass political and social reforms. Many time these were "bottom-up" reforms started by the people, another impetus which was discussed above in the democratization of religion in America. The Abolitionist Movement was a branch started from the revivals that demanded immediate emancipation of the slaves. This was a dangerous mixture of the spiritual and civil spheres that many Southern theologians, particularly Presbyterians warned would be the cause of the break up of many churches and the secession of states which made up the Union of the states. There were voluntary organizations started for evangelism, education, Bible and tract publication and missions to Indians and other countries. This brought on crusades against Sabbath breaking, slavery, alcohol abuse (temperance), gambling, women's rights and the exploitation of labor.

Who were these reformers? The most prominent were Charles Grandison Finney, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Orange Scott, Theodore Weld, Angelina and Sara Grimke, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison, Phoebe Palmer, Francis Willard, and William Jennings Bryan (among many others.

The War Between the States and Religious Decline (1861-1877)

The Second Great Awakening should be seen as the greatest stimulus (ironically) to the coming of the Civil War (1861-1865) (called by its historical nomenclature, because of its brevity). The continuous agitation of the abolitionists threatened the United States with great civil conflict. The three most influential and greatest denominations split over the cause of abolitionist agitation and the issue of slavery: The Methodists split in 1844, the Baptists in 1845 and the Old School Presbyterians in 1860 when the Northern region of the Old School chose to support the Union against the secession of South Carolina decided in the General Assembly ("the Gardiner Spring Resolutions"). The Old and New School of the Presbyterian Church had already divided in 1837. The Northern president of the United States Abraham Lincoln, along with Horace Bushnell and Philip Schaff saw the war as God's punishment to America because of the refusal to repent of slavery. The Southern churches, particularly the Southern Presbyterians were strict subscriptionists to the WCF and did not want to see the church, a spiritual institution, involved in the civil sphere. As well, they thought the Bible implicitly and explicitly taught that slavery was ontologically a God-ordained institution. There were some revivals in the Federal and Confederate armies during the War but toward the end of the war, with a great amount of casualties never before seen by Americans, the religious faith of some grew dull.

The generation following the Civil War has been dubbed by Mark Twain as the "Gilded Age" (1873). With the publication and popularity of Darwin's Origin of Species and much Higher Criticism of the Bible, many scientifically gave way to a new understanding of the world. The advancement of Christianity and Christian ideals were on the decline. There was an assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and corruption in the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. It seemed that corruption and material greed had won the day rather than Christian values. The Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists after the War remained divided. Toward the end of the 19th century many intellectuals and businessmen embraced Social Darwinism. This decline in religion would lead to Dwight L. Moody's revivals toward the turn of the century.

Major 19th Century Evangelical Social Reform Movements

Abolitionism - Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803); Lyman Beecher (1775-1863); Charles G. Finney (1792-1875); John Brown (1800-1859); Theodore Weld (1803-1895); Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896).

Major Abolition Reform Organizations - 1807- Friends of Humanity Association; 1817- Colonization Society; 1833- American Anti-Slavery Society; 1840- Liberty Party; 1848- Free Soil Party.

Prohibitionists - Lyman Beecher (1775-1863); Frances Willard (1839-1898); Billy Sunday (1862-1935).

Denominational Schism Over Slavery

Presbyterian - 1861. Northern- Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Southern- Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America (later the Presbyterian Church in the United States; Presbyterian Church in America, 1973).

Methodists - 1844. Northern- Methodist Episcopal Church. Southern- Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Baptists - 1845. Northern- American Baptist Missionary Union (later the American Baptist Convention). Southern- Southern Baptist Convention.

Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivalists

Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)- Born in Northfield, Mass. He was not part of any denomination and he started Northfield Seminary for girls; Mt. Hermon School for boys; and the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute). He was converted at 18 while a shoe salesman in Chicago. He organized a large Sunday school in Chicago. He was never ordained and he held crusades all over America until he died in 1899.

Reuben A. Torrey (1856-1928)- Was from Hoboken, New Jersey and of a Congregational background. He was president of Moody Bible Institute (1889-1908). He graduated from Yale College and Divinity School and worked with Moody until his death.

J. Wilbur Chapman (1859-1918)- He was from Richmond, Indiana and from the Presbyterian church. He attended Oberlin College and Lane Theological Seminary (both hotbeds of abolitionism). He assisted Moody in some of his campaigns and was director of the Winona Lake Bible Conference.

Billy Sunday (1862-1935)- He was from Ames, Iowa and a Presbyterian. He became a revivalist after a professional baseball career (1883-1891). He was converted in Chicago in 1886 and assisted J. Wilbur Chapman in some of his crusades. He began to do his own "shows" and revivals in 1896 and had a highly sensational, dramatic style of preaching. He preached against drinking and opposed the theory of evolution.