Definitions for "Great Awakening"
The revitalization of spirituality and religious enthusiasm that swept through the American colonies from 1734 until around 1750. Ministers like Jonathan Edwards and the itinerant preachers George Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent promoted what they called a "religion of the heart," through which converts would move beyond mere adherence to moral duties into an ecstatic experience of spiritual grace. Great Awakening conversions were often characterized by physical reactions such as shouting, shaking, fainting, or even falling to the ground.
Fervent religious revival movement in the 1720s through the 40s that was spread throughout the colonies by ministers like New England Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards and English revivalist George Whitefield.
The Great Awakening was a revival of faith and religious fervor in the 1730s and 1740s. Characterized by fiery preaching and an emphasis on feeling and faith over thinking and ceremony, the New Lights of the Great Awakening sought to restore some of the religious zeal that had been lost over the preceeding generation.