The Great Awakening During The British Colonies - 2401 Words

The First Great Awakening in the British Colonies found its way across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe around 1730-1740s, and it had a profound impact on the course of the colonies, especially during the latter half of the Eighteenth Century, as they became independent from King George III’s tyranny. The Great Awakening was a movement rooted in spiritual growth in which it brought a new national identity that swept through the Puritans in Colonial America. Certain Puritans at time began to disassociate themselves with the established approach to worship which led to a general decline of church goers in the British Colonies, and during the Great Awakening many ministers adopted instead a New Light approach in which was characterized by great†¦show more content†¦Charles Chauncey became Jonathan Edward’s opponent and opposed the Great Awakening’s New Light ideals of revivalism and emotional sermons that he referred to as Enthusiasm, and became the defender of the old way of the Puritan ways of preaching and serving God. â€Å"His greatest contemporary fame came as a leading ‘’Old Light’’ opponent of the massive religious revivals that swept through the colonies in the late 1730s and early 1740s, a position in his mind motivated by an earnest desire to conserve the Puritan way from the â€Å"New Lights† dangerous engagement of excessive displays of emotions.† These excessive displays of emotions he explained that they were, â€Å"nothing better than Enthusiasts... [and] have no good reason to believe such a thing.† He believed that