Enlightenment or the Great Awakening Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Enlightenment or the Great Awakening - Essay Example In reaction, a new spiritual renewal, â€Å"characterized by great fervor and emotion in prayer,† (Great-Awakening.com) was begun by the Wesley brothers and George Whitefield. This movement of religious revival, which crossed the Atlantic and swept over the American Colonies, particularly New England, between 1730 and 1745, is termed The Great Awakening. George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were the most prominent preachers of this movement. The Great Awakening greatly impacted the ideological development of the Colonies. Unlike the earlier doctrine of the Puritans, the new doctrine promised the grace of God to all who experienced a desire for it. It emphasized greater intimacy with God and encouraged overt emotional expression. More importantly, a personal approach to salvation took precedence over church dogma. This undermined the authority of the church leaders and transferred power to the congregation. A large number of new religious denominations were formed. Ironically, this splintering of the hitherto dominant Puritan and Anglican groups led to a unification of the American Colonies and the birth of a â€Å"national consciousness† and an American identity. The Great Awakening was the ideological root of the American Revolution, as it effectively undermined the belief that the monarchy was sanctioned by God. The movement engendered the notion of a consensual government and the belief that State rule was a c ontract of the government with the people. Individualism in religion formed the basis for the desire for political independence. The Great Awakening united the colonists in anti-Catholic sentiment. This later metamorphosed into a deep anti-British fervor. The colonists realized that just as religious power lay in their own hands, so also could they take on the reins of government. The ideology of self-governance was an off-shoot of the Great

(you can choose the paper topic) Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

(you can choose the topic) - Research Paper Example There are several motivations he cites for the call for nonviolent action. To begin with, he cites ways in which can injustice can be discovered and according to him, there was racial injustice against the minority. Further, he notes the prevalence of two types of laws, the just and the unjust. He says that the unjust law leads to unfair treatment of the minority people and goes ahead to state that, such a law is not law at all and therefore, it should be abolished by all means. King goes ahead to express his disappointment in all the people who witness the injustice happening in their midst and chose to remain silent about it. Most of his disappointment is directed to his fellow religious colleagues who he feels have done very little to fight the racial injustices. It is then that he calls for them to help restore equality by telling that they cannot sit idly as Christians and allows their brethren to suffer. His call for action and why it is very important for everyone to unite and fight alongside him has been retaliated all throughout the letter and especially at the end. King’s letter has effectively used major appealing techniques to show the evil of racial injustice and call for action to fight for equality. This paper seeks to show the relevance and credibility of King’ letter in his quest for equality. King’s letter is very appealing especially since his conclusion for the fight of racial injustices involves the call for nonviolent action. He notes that non-violent action is the future for the civil rights movement as it does not aggravate the situation. While the term ‘nonviolent’ action seems to be ambiguous, he goes ahead to explain what exactly he means by nonviolent action and what actions constitute nonviolent action. He provides a list of the nonviolent actions which are intended to provide insights into the questions he poses, â€Å"Why direct action, why sit-ins, marches and so forth?† (King, 1963, p. 214). It is