Revolution, Revival and Civil Conflict

Lesson 13 15 January 2012

The American Revolution

The French and Indian (Seven Years) War: 1753 1760
The first true world war Ended French influence in the Americas; results in English Canada Differences in view of governance The Non-Conformists View and the desire for continuation of the Acts of Toleration Princeton: John Witherspoon and the training of the leadership Major Denominations: Congregationalist, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican Most attendees were Christian Franklin and Jefferson were anti-clerical Christians Few were Deists New England: Many Congregationalist Churches remain loyal (50k leave to Canada) Mid-Atlantic: Enthusiastic revolutionaries (King George III Presbyterian Revolt) South: Anglican Churches supported separation Becomes American Episcopal Most churches severed ties with English churches American Baptist, American Methodist Emphasis will be on pluralism in the US Religious Freedom 1786: Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Pre-War

The Declaration of Independence and Constitution

Impact of the War on the Church

The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment Movement emphasized Rationalism and Science
Rene Descartes: (1637) Cognito, Ego Sum Francis Bacon: (1620) Novum Organum basis for the Scientific Method Isaac Newton: (1687) Principia Mathematica mechanical physics and natural law John Locke: (1690) Essay Concerning Human Understanding empiricism and social contract Emphasis is on human reason, human understanding and natural law Basic Tenet: God is the first cause of all things, but is not involved in day to day operations God created using natural laws that man can discern through study and reason Christ: a moral object lesson only (no miracles, no resurrection) Repent of wrong doing and lead an ethical life which would guarantee immortality of the soul Emphasis on human rights and improving the human condition Influential Deists: Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Immanuel Kant A revolt of the educated middle class many who were heavily influenced by Voltaire and Rousseau Emphasized the social contract in which the state was subject only to the sovereign people and not any other force including God Emphasized the goodness and perfectibility of mankind

Deism

Impact The French Revolution (1789 1796)

Napoleonic Europe
Issues: Nationalistic Wars, Colonialism, Industrial Revolution, Urbanization England Revival in the Anglican Church
The Evangelicals and Clapham Sect(centered in Cambridge University)
John Newton (1725 1802) Olney Church William Cowpers (1731 1800) Hymn Write William Wilberforce d. 1831 Anti-Slavery and works for moral reform

British Missionary Society founded in 1792

William Carey establishes mission at Serampore, India Henry Martyn British missionary to India and Persia, translate NT into Hindu and Persian

Oxford Reforms: Anglo-Catholicism and High Church Restoration

France post revolutionary, anti-clerical

Napoleon makes an agreement with Catholic Church (Concordat of 1801) religion of majority of France, but not established church

Austria desires to make Catholic Church the glue for Europe Roman Catholicism under Pius IX (1846 1878)
1854: Ineffabilis Deus: Establishes the doctrine of Immaculate Conception 1864: Syllabus of Errors: Condemns toleration of religions, separation of church and state, democracy, socialism, Bible societies, secular school systems, civil marriage 1870: Vatican Council: Establishes Papal Infallibility in faith and morals

European Intellectual Movements

Romanticism
Backlash against the Enlightenment emphasis on Reason Emphasizes feelings and emotions, idealizes the Medieval Period, return to the Gothic ideal, tended toward nature worship and individualism

German Idealistic Philosophy

Immanuel Kant (1724 1804) Critique of Pure Reason
Separates knowledge into Phenomenal (Empirical data) and Noumena (non-empirical data) Places faith in the non-empirical and states it is irrational (cant be determined by senses)

G.F. W. Hegel theory of Dialectic Idealism

Effects of Romanticism and German Philosophy

Leads to German Higher Critical Methods of Bible Study Argues for evolution of religion: from animism polytheism-henotheism-monotheism States Bible is merely a human book that describes human interaction with the divine Faith is not a set of beliefs to be lived, but feelings to be felt OT Studies: Julian Welhausen: historical literary criticism and the JEDP theory NT Studies: Frederick Baur: Petrine vs. Pauline doctrines lead to Johannine doctrines Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (1848) The Communist Manifesto and Revolution of 1848 Charles Darwin (1859) On the Origin of Species and the Evolutionary Process

The Rise of Materialism (Naturalism) and Communism

Frontier America
Revivalism The Second Great Awakening (1801 1840s)
Begins on the frontier at Cane Ridge, Kentucky Camp Meetings, emphasized ecstatic conversion, the use of music Played to the strengths of non-liturgical groups (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians) Charles G. Finney lawyer from New York, converts eventually President of Oberlin College Introduced the use of means in conversion emphasized protracted meetings, use of plain language, the calling of names in prayer and preaching, the anxious bench and the altar call Began in New York City at the Fulton Street Congregational Church Jeremiah Lamphier, a lay leader, organized a noon prayer time Began with 6 members, in six months grown to 10,000 Spread throughout the US and Great Britain with over 1,000,000 converts Social Reform Movements: Abolitionism, Prison Reform, Education Reform, Womens Rights The Temperance Movement Sunday School begun in England by Hannah More and Robert Raikes, spreads to US Bible Societies and Tract Societies: American Bible Society (1816), American Tract Society Mission Societies and the call to Foreign Missions

The Prayer Revival of 1857-1858

Effects of the Second Great Awakening and Reforms in Great Britain

American Church Movements

Emphasis is on Practical Religion and not doctrine or intellectual movements Desire to reclaim the NT church and establish the one true Church Disciples/Church of Christ Movement
Alexander Campbell (Presbyterian) and Barton Stone (Baptist) Centered in Kentucky and Tennessee Emphasizes the NT over the OT, baptismal regeneration, weekly community and the NT as the only source for doctrine William Miller Baptist minister stated Christ would return 2300 years after Ezra returned to Jerusalem (c.a. 457 BC) making his return October, 1843, then October 1844 Those who continued to believe after 1844 stated that Christ began his return on those dates Ellen G. White become a prophetess and holds group together Emphasis is Sabbaterianism, Soul Sleep, Annihilationism, Christs Judgment Joseph Smith (1805 1844) from Palmyra, NY claims to have recovered golden plates Translates plates from reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics and publishes Book of Mormon (1830) Moves westward: Kirkland, OH, Independence, MO, and then Nauvoo, IL Killed in a jail break in 1844; Brigham Young takes over and moves to Utah (1846 1848) The Mormon War of 1857 Split into denominations: Reorganized Church led by Joseph Smith s son and first wife

Millerites 7th Day Adventists

Mormonism

The American Civil War

The Watershed event in American History
620k killed out of a population of 30 million The first Industrial War and the first total war in which the population was targeted

The issue: Slavery, but also tariffs, immigration and the Industrial Revolution Theological Issues
Understanding and interpretation of the Bible Northerners: Tended toward viewing Bible as a whole and stating that it led to freedom Southerners: Tended to view specific Bible passages and interpreting them The breaking of denominations into northern and southern components (1844 1845) The issue: appointing missionaries who were also slave holders Methodists re-unite in 1948 (United Methodist Church) Presbyterians Reunite in 1960 (United Presbyterian Church) Baptist never reunite Southern Baptist Convention established in Nashville in 1845 The Black Church movement: AME (American Methodist Episcopal) and Missionary Baptist Spiritualism: The use of mediums to make contact with the dead

Effects

Greatest Effect: Causes the intellectual class to reject Christianity in America

References
Brown, Colin. Christianity and Western Thought vol. 2 Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity Noll, Mark A. The Civil War as Theological Crisis Wilberforce, William. Practical Christianity