A Brief History: Ebb and Flow of this Movement Today and Where We are Going

By Dr. Keith J. Wise - (Presented at the 2018 “It’s in the Word!” Florida Bible Conference on January 24, 2018)

Dr. Wise is an Adjunct Professor of History and Religion at Alma College and publishes the blog called "Wonderful Words of Life"

“Context is the backdrop of all historical and religious events” so said the American Historian Henry Steel Commager. To properly position my remarks today, I want to see if we can understand the environment of early 19^th century America. It is important to cite this perspective as one discusses Cain Ridge, Kentucky and the context of the frontier of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. People were flooding into Kentucky and Ohio for land and opportunity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau records, the Kentucky population stood at 221,000 by 1800. However, the spiritual aspect of the frontier had become pathetic. Michael Hines notes one Colonial Historian that said, “By the turn of the century (1800) the first great awakening had become a great sleep.” (First Great Awakening is considered from 1734-1750) Why? The Age of Reason (1650-1815)

All of this is translated on the frontier in drunkenness, permissive sexuality, gambling, and crime. Hines notes that it was not uncommon to meet men with but one eye, gouged out in a bar fight or skirmish. Into this foray we emerge with what historians call the Second Great Awakening. (1792-1860) It first swept the eastern seaboard then moved inland. Timothy Dwight at Yale University and Charles Finney were a product of this revival fervor.

But what was the catalyst that united the ideas of revival on the frontier and moved whole families to embrace such a movement?

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