Inventing the "Great Awakening" [Hardcover]

Frank Lambert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

This text presents an account of the evangelical revival known in America as the first Great Awakening (1735-1745). Beginning in the mid-1730s supporters and opponents of the revival commented on the extraordinary nature of what one observer called the "great ado", with its extemporaneous outdoor preaching newspaper publicity, and rallies of up to 20,000 participants. It offers an overview of this period and proposes an explanation of its origins. The Great Awakening was named after it occurence and its leaders created no doctorine nor organizational structure that would result in a historical record. Challenging previous theories about this, the book demonstrates that the awakening was invented by 18th-century evangelicals who were religious promoters. It shows how these people told and retold their account to themselves, their followers and opponents. It depicts revivals as cultural productions and yield different understandings of how believers "spread the word" with whatever technical and social methods seem the most effective.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Recent scholarship has sought to diminish the scope and scale of the Great Awakening, as the mid-18th century evangelical revival was called on this side of the Atlantic, attributing it to the invention of 19th-century historians. Lambert (history, Purdue Univ.), well known for his biography of George Whitefield (Pedlar in Divinity: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 17371770, Princeton Univ., 1994), argues that it was an invention, but of the Colonial revivalists themselves. Lambert uses the term invention in its most positive light as a creation rather than a fabrication or contrivance. Through careful use of primary sources, an understanding emerges of how early revivalists constructed their own understanding of the work in which they were involved and how they were able to develop and expand the movement. Significantly, this work goes beyond explaining the revival itself and shows how a popular movement developed prior to the advent of modern media. Although the bibliography is thin in places, this is a significant scholarly contribution to the literature. Recommended for academic libraries.Daniel D. Liestman, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A refreshing addition to the historiographical debate about the Great Awakening. Lambert (History/Purdue Univ.) broke new ground in 1994 with his study of George Whitefield (Pedlar in Divinity, not reviewed), arguing that the great 18th-century evangelist needed to be understood as a market-savvy self-promoter who shrewdly created a demand for religious tracts and publications. This volume examines the broader religious movement in which Whitefield was a player, paying close attention to some of the less well known revivalists of the day. Essentially, the author argues that Whitefield was not alone in his ability to give the masses what they wanted before they knew they wanted it. The phenomenon known as the Great Awakening, Lambert asserts, was the ``invention'' of pastors who strung together isolated revivals and claimed a massive intercolonial, even transatlantic, religious renaissance. He provides many compelling examples of this aggrandizement, including a detailed chapter on the origins of the most famous revivalist tract, Jonathan Edwards's Faithful Narrative. A revivalist ``script'' emerged, Lambert finds, which encouraged a uniformity of conversion and conviction experiences from Manchester, Vt., to Manchester, England. As always, the author pays keen attention to the sweeping changes in 18th-century consumption, which created a demand for religious goods. He also analyzes the rhetoric of the anti-revivalists, who expressed grave concerns about the itinerant nature of revivals (traveling preachers threatened the religious status quo and the local ministers ``bottom line'') and claimed that proponents of the awakening were ``puffing'' attendance records to fuel public interest. Though the author never actually claims that revivalists were more motivated by money than faith, his arguments frequently teeter on the brink of that conclusion, making the book seem on occasion cynical. Lambert can be criticized for taking his market metaphors too far, but he makes a skillful and original analysis of American religion's early engagements with the market economy. (5 b&w illustrations) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691043795
• ISBN-13: 978-0691043791
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #679,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for fans of Lambert or colonial America, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inventing the "Great Awakening" (Hardcover)

This is a well-written analysis of a much misunderstood event in western history. Lambert attempts to explain the establishment and perpetuation of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies and effectively argues his case that the event was one of deliberate planning and execution rather than a spontaneous, pervasive religious revival. The reader is drawn into Lambert's discussion of the causes and effects of the Awakening on both sides of the Atlantic and can not help making comparisons to modern evangelists attempts to spread their messages to the masses. While not of interest to all, this book is a rewarding and entertaining read. I eagerly await his next opus.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, January 23, 2005

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inventing the "Great Awakening" (Paperback)

This is a very thorough and well written analysis of the first Great Awakening. Lambert's point of departure is a fairly narrow point of historiography, the existence of the Great Awakening. Some scholars have argued recently that the Great Awakening was actually only one of a series of local revivals in Colonial America and that the concept of an inter-colonial Great Awakening was imposed retrospectively by 19th century American evangelicals looking for a 'usable' past. Lambert examines the evidence for a Great Awakening as traditionally conceived, its origins, dynamics, and conclusion. Lambert reasserts the existence of the Great Awakening as an inter-colonial event. While it was triggered by and preceded by local revivals in parts of New England and the middle colonies, several features, including the important role of itinerant preachers like the famous George Whitefield, the use of proto-modern publicity, the sense of a general phenomenon, and its trans-Atlantic character, were all novel. Lambert shows well how the Great Awakening began with groups with well established revival traditions, notably New England Puritans and some Presbyterian groups of Scots origin. These movements became linked with a broader reform movement in England led by the Oxford Methodists and with revival movements in Scotland. The trans-Atlantic character of these movements served to reverberate and amplify the significance of events on each side of the Atlantic. The robust print culture of the greater British world made possible the linkages and innovations characteristic of the Great Awakening. Lambert shows well how the Great Amakening was a planned, not spontaneous event. Implicit in his narrative is the sense that the Great Awakening was a crucial factor in the development of an American religous marketplace in which the laity play the key role of discriminating consumers. Recommend strongly for those interested in colonial America.

8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Faulty Conclusions, Fascinating Reading, October 22, 2006

By 

Marc Axelrod (Potter, Wi USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inventing the "Great Awakening" (Paperback)

Frank Lambert sets out to prove in this book that the Great awakening was the creation of a particular group of evangelical Christians who saw themselves as pioneers and promoters of the work of God. He contends that fiery preaching alone cannot account for the legendary status of the religious awakenings that permeated the transatlantic area of the United States fromj 1735-1745. Credit must also be given to revivalists like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and John Gillies, who knew how to use the printed word as a medium to spread their interpretation of what was happening in the colonies.

Lambert also notes the indefatigable work of Old Light clergymen such as Charles Chauncy, who vigorously opposes the revivals and their emotional excesses. These excesses, along with Whitefield's excoriating missives against parish ministers, and the eloquent anti-revivalist propaganda, helped to cool off the revival fires burning across the American landscape.

Lambert writes well and holds the attention of the reader, and he is right that the revival narratives of Prince and Edwards and others played a role in establishing the "legendary status" of these awakenings.

But Lambert does not give enough credit to the Spirit of God, nor enough accolades to men like Whitefield and Edwards, who crafted compelling pieces of theological rhetoric that were used by the Lord.

I recommend this book as interesting history, but would also direct the reader to the primary source documents of the Great Awakening, namely, the sermons of Whitefield and the writings of Edwards.

Rev. Marc Axelrod