![]() Most characteristically, conversion, oftenĪccompanied by tears, provoked a deep sense of humility and peace That accompanied it, that made it an emotional catharsis, a People recognized theįact of conversion by the power and character of the emotions It is important to stress to your students the importance of theĮmotional state that signaled that one had receivedĭivine grace and was a converted Christian. The moment at which, through the promise of Christ's atonementįor human sin, a merciful God would bestow his grace upon the The will to God was the moment of conversion, if it was to come, This moment of renunciation of sin and the abject surrender to Insisted that "sinners bound to change their own hearts." His will that Finney meant when in his most famous sermon he Was this act of repentance, surrender, and dedication to serving God's will to do with as he saw fit and to serve him fully. Was to fully repent and surrender unconditionally to Something the penitent could do, indeed, was bound to do. How much one might desire it, there was absolutely Justly condemned for one's sins and deserved eternal damnation.Ĭonviction was the terrifying point of recognition that no matter Sense of "conviction," the heartfelt realization that one stood ![]() Of eternal damnation, which in turn grew into an unmistakable Question "what can I do to be saved?" This led to a state ofĪcute spiritual "anxiety," marked by deep fear over the prospect Into what were called the doctrines of salvation propelled by the The process of conversion characteristically began inĪ state of "concern" about the state of one's soul and "inquiry" Steps, each of which was accompanied by a powerful emotion that led the penitent from the terror ofĮternal damnation through redemption to the promise of heavenly Psychological transformation left them with a fundamentallyĪltered sense of self, an identity as a new kind of Christian.Īs they interpreted it, they had undergone spiritual rebirth, theĭeath of an old self and the birth of a new one thatįundamentally transformed their sense of their relationship to the world.Ĭonversion consisted of a sequence of clearly mapped-out People believed-though belief or faith was essential to it-but something that happened to them, a real, intensely emotionalĮvent they went through and experienced as a profound But what students need to understand is thatĬonversion was an experience. Through Christ's death on the cross as the atonement for Conversion was compelled by a set ofĬlear ideas about the innate sinfulness of humans after Adam'sįall, the omnipotence of God-his awful power and his mercy-and,įinally, the promise of salvation for fallen humankind The core of nineteenth-century evangelicalism was theĮxperience of conversion. Whatever their particularĭoctrinal stance, most nineteenth-century evangelicals preached aĪrminianism which emphasized the duty andĪbility of sinners to repent and desist from sin. The ability of humans to turn away from sinfulīehavior and embrace moral action. For all they preached hellfire andĭamnation, they nonetheless harbored an unshakable practicalīelief in the capacity of humans for moral action, in Nineteenth-century evangelicals like Finney, or Lymanīeecher, or Francis Asbury, were no less unrelenting in theirĮmphasis on the terrible sinfulness of humans. God's hands, something he dispensed as he saw fit for his own To overcome this nature without the direct action of the grace of Stressed the sinful nature of humans and their utter incapacity Eighteenth-century Calvinists like Jonathan Edwards or George Whitefield had Is the work of man, it is something for man to do." ThisĮvangelical activism involved an important doctrinal shift awayįrom the predominately Calvinist orientation that hadĬharacterized much of eighteenth-century American Christianity. As Charles Grandison Finney, the leadingĮvangelical of mid-nineteenth century America, put it: "religion What above all else characterized thisĮvangelicalism was its dynamism, the pervasive sense of activistĮnergy it released. ![]() Particular style of evangelicalism became the dominant form of Protestantism has always contained an importantĮvangelical strain, but it was in the nineteenth century that a But by the 1830sĪlmost all of these bodies had a deep evangelical emphasis inĬommon. Protestant sects and denominations, with different doctrines, practices, and organizational forms. Nineteenth century America contained a bewildering array of Queens College / City University of New York NHC Home TeacherServe Divining America 19th Century Essay:Įvangelicalism, Revivalism, and the Second Great Awakening Evangelicalism, Revivalism, and the Second Great Awakening, The Nineteenth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center
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