First Great Awakening

1. The First Great Awakening: This will cover the beginning of Evangelicalism. The two most important leaders were Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Your paper will include the following:
• Biographies of both men.
• Discussions of their contributions.
• Comparing and contrasting their contributions and styles.
• A short discussion of some of the other leaders who played a lesser role.
• A description of Evangelicalism and an explanation of how Evangelicalism began during the First Great Awakening. (Think about it this way: What was unique about the First Great Awakening, and how did that contribute to the idea of Evangelicalism?

Paper Requirements:
1. Write a 1,250-word research paper (using 12-point, Times New Roman font, 1-inch
margins on all sides). Be sure to write the total word count at the end of the paper. Please
note: The words in the cover sheet, footnotes, and bibliography are not counted in the
total world count.
2. Use 6 scholarly sources. Your textbook does count. You may use scholarly websites, but
also use at least 2 scholarly articles and/or books. Be careful to choose scholarly sources;
do not use Wikipedia, blogs, or opinionated websites. You can find scholarly articles
through the Jerry Falwell Library. If you need help finding scholarly books, you can use
books.google.com. If you are uncertain whether a source is scholarly, feel free to send an
email with the source information to your instructor; he or she will let you know.
3. Include a cover sheet, use current Turabian reference style, either footnotes or in-text
(parenthetical) notes, and place your bibliography as the last page.
Choose 1 out of the listing of 3 below to write on:
1. The First Great Awakening: This will cover the beginning of Evangelicalism. The two
most important leaders were Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Your paper will
include the following:
 Biographies of both men.
 Discussions of their contributions.
 Comparing and contrasting their contributions and styles.
 A short discussion of some of the other leaders who played a lesser role.
 A description of Evangelicalism and an explanation of how Evangelicalism began
during the First Great Awakening. (Think about it this way: What was unique
about the First Great Awakening, and how did that contribute to the idea of
Evangelicalism?)

2. The Second Great Awakening: Your paper will include the following:
 A description of the camp meetings (starting with the Cane Ridge Revival): How
did they get started and, if you had attended one, what would it have looked like?
 Discussion of Charles Finney and his contributions.
 An answer to this question: Why did the Baptists and Methodists greatly increase
during the 2GA? (Note: In 1776, Baptists and Methodists made up 19.4% of
Christians in America; in 1850, they comprised 54.7%. From Mark Noll, A
History of Christianity in the United States and Canada [Grand Rapids: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992], 153.)
 Discussion of the rise of Utopian Communities (which came out of the 2GA):
Over 100 existed in the 1800s, and only two exist today: the Shakers have 2
members (as of 2018) and the Mormons have around 15 million.

3. The Rise of Fundamentalism (late 1800s and early 1900s): This will include the Christian
reaction to Darwinism and other scientific theories, the rise of higher criticism of the
Bible, the Social Gospel, The Fundamentals (a 12-volume set of essays), and the Scopes
Trial and its ramifications, plus other aspects that are important from your study.