Hi jondave,
Briefly:
63. OLD LIGHTS, NEW LIGHTS:
"The "New Lights" were new religious movements formed during the Great
Awakening and broke away from the congregational church in New
England.
The "Old Lights" were the established congregational church."
60. GEORGE WHITEFIELD:
Credited with starting the Great Awakening, also a leader of the "New
Lights."
http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~udhsweb/aphistory/cards2.html
Less brief:
"NEW LIGHTS: As the Great Awakening spread during the 1730s and 1740s,
various religious groups fractured into two camps, sometimes known as
the New Lights and Old Lights. The New Lights placed emphasis on a
"new birth" conversion experience--gaining God's saving grace. They
also demanded ministers who had clearly experienced conversions
themselves."
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/historyonline/glossary_nr.cfm#newlights
"OLD LIGHTS: As the Great Awakening spread during the 1730s and 1740s,
various religious groups fractured into two camps, sometimes known as
the Old Lights and the New Lights. The Old Lights were not very
enthusiastic about the Awakening, particularly in terms of what they
viewed as popular excesses in seeking after God's grace. Old Light
ministers emphasized formal schooling in theology as a source of their
religious authority, and they emphasized good order in their churches.
See New Lights."
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/historyonline/glossary_nr.cfm#oldlights
"THE GREAT AWAKENING had several important results. America's
religious community came to be divided between the "Old Lights," who
rejected the great Awakening, and the "New Lights," who accepted it -
and sometimes suffered persecution because of their fervor. A number
of colleges were founded (many of them today's "Ivy League" schools),
primarily for the purpose of training New-Light ministers. The Great
Awakening also fostered a greater readiness to lay the claims of
established authority- in this case religious - alongside a fixed
standard - in this case the Bible - and to reject such claims it found
wanting."
http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~udhsweb/aphistory/file112.htm
"So the first Great Awakening left colonials sharply polarized along
religious lines. Anglicans and Quakers gained new members among those
who disapproved of the revival's excesses, while the Baptists (and, in
the 1770s, the Methodists) made even more handsome gains from the
ranks of radical evangelical converts. The largest single group of
churchgoing Americans remained within the Congregationalist and
Presbyterian denominations, but they divided internally between
advocates and opponents of the Awakening, known respectively as "New
Lights" and "Old Lights." Inevitably, civil governments were drawn
into the fray. In colonies where one denomination received state
support, other churches lobbied legislatures for disestablishment, an
end to the favored status of Congregationalism in Connecticut and
Massachusetts and of Anglicanism in the southern colonies."
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm
"*First Signs of the Great Awakening (1720s) [I hope the formatting is
ok]
a. Theodorus Frelinghuysen: Presbyterian & Dutch Reformed churches
in NJ.
-- Emotionalism and publications made him important in
influencing
other ministers including William Tennent and his son
Gilbert, who
guided Whitefield.
b. Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764)
i. Leading Presbyterian clergyman of the Great Awakening
-- Most important of the American revivalists
ii. Sought to convince complacent parishioners that they were not
really
Christians; then opened the way for them to become Christians
via his
revivalist doctrines.
*Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
a. Started the Great Awakening (c. 1734) in Northampton in 1734
-- Most influential theological writer and thinker of the
movement.
b. Blasted the idea of salvation through good works (arminianism);
dependence on God's grace is paramount
c. Emphasized eternal damnation
d. Style was learned and reasoned; not emotional like other "new
lights"
*George Whitefield (1714-1770)
a. Brilliant orator; made 7 trips to the American colonies
b. His basic appeal was to the Bible
c. Helped found Methodism in Georgia and South Carolina
*"Old Light" vs "New Light"
a. Old Lights -- orthodox and liberal clergymen deeply skeptical of
emotionalism and theatrical antics of the
revivalists.
-- Believed emotionalism threatened their usefulness
and
spiritual authority.
b. New Lights -- supported the Awakening for revitalizing American
religion
and used emotionalism to move followers.
c. Congregationalists and Presbyterians split over the issue
d. Baptists attracted believers in conversion who longed for
emotion in
religion.
*Effects
a. Created schisms in other denominations which increased
competitiveness
of American churches.
b. Brought religion to many who had lost touch with it
c. Undermined the older clergy
d. Encouraged a new wave of missionary work among the Indians and
slaves
e. Founding of "new light" centers of higher ed.: Dartmouth, Brown,
Rutgers, & Princeton.
f. Laid the foundation for anti-intellectualism as part of the
American
character."
http://www.curie.cps.k12.il.us/Web%20Based%20Instruction/US%20History/topicnotes/1-5.htm
Possible short definition taken from above:
"New Lights supported the Awakening for revitalizing American religion
and used emotionalism to move followers."
http://www.curie.cps.k12.il.us/Web%20Based%20Instruction/US%20History/topicnotes/1-5.htm
AN ESSAY ON THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE GREAT AWAKENING:
http://www.puritans.net/Essay%20on%20Enlightenment%20and%20GA.htm
I hope this helps. If you have any questions or if this hasn't
satisfied your request, please post a clarification request before
rating my answer. Sorry for the delay - I just about had this all
ready to post when a sudden thunderstorm swept in and I had to shut
down the office. All is well now and the sun is shining - I wonder if
there is a rainbow.
Thank you,
hummer
Google Search Terms Used:
"american history" colonial "new lights" |
