126 Great Awakening, The
strategy. A successful revolutionary movement, argued
Gramsci, must be able to replace the existing authori-
tarian capitalist culture with an EGALITARIANproletarian
culture, changing and shaping the way people live,
think, and feel.
Further Reading
Martin, J. Gramsci’s Political Analysis: A Critical Introduction.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Great Awakening, The
A series of CHRISTIANreligious revivals in North Amer-
ica from about 1740 to 1770. Key EVANGELICALleaders
of these spiritual revivals were English minister George
WHITEFIELDand American minister Jonathan Edwards.
Occurring primarily among PRESBYTERIAN, Methodist,
and Congregational churches, the Great Awakening
effectively Christianized the British North American
colonies (later the United States of America).
Politically, this religious revival had several signifi-
cant effects. The practice of itinerate and uneducated
lay Christians preaching the Bible in nontradition set-
tings (such as houses and outdoors rather than in
church buildings) had a democratizing effect on Amer-
ican society. Through EGALITARIAN DEMOCRACYin reli-
gion and ETHICS, the American culture became more
democratic generally, preparing the populace for the
American Revolution (1776–84) and the establishment
of the American Republic (1789). The HIERARCHYand
monopoly of the established churches was changed by
the Great Awakening into a lively, POPULISTChristianity
ruled from bottom (congregational community) up
(electing clergy) rather than the traditional from top
(ordained clergy) down (to passive masses). With ordi-
nary people leading the revivalist churches, the protes-
tant doctrine of “priesthood of all believers” was
realized, preparing citizens for economic and political
democracy. Rather than a limiting, repressive force, the
Christian church became a democratic liberating force
in American life. The legal restraints on religious FREE-
DOM(and, consequently, on freedom of speech) were
abolished in practice, and common citizens became
confident of their ability to be self-governing.
The advocates of this religious/social revival saw it
as a genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit of Christ, as
evidenced by massive conversions, increased religious
sincerity, and morality and public responsibility. Rev.
Edwards described it as “a divine and supernatural
light,” transforming many communities. Its emphasis
on “the New Birth” or Christian transformation of the
individual, conformed to past evangelical PURITANthe-
ology. That emphasis upon a personal relationship to
Christ and salvation emboldened Americans to break
ties to traditional English society and class structures.
More aristocratic clergy in Boston and at Harvard Uni-
versity rejected this populist Christianity and eventu-
ally retreated to Unitarian thought. But the effects of
the Great Awakening were widespread throughout the
American colonies advancing a more democratic reli-
gious, social, and political life.Further Readings
Bushman, Richard L., ed. The Great Awakening: Documents on the
Revival of Religion, 1740–1745.New York: Atheneum, 1970.
Gewehr, Wesley Marsh. The Great Awakening in Virginia
1740–1790.Gloucester, Mass.: P. Smith, ca. 1930, 1965.
Hall, Timothy D. Contested Boundaries: Itinerancy and the
Reshaping of the Colonial American Religious World.Dur-
ham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994.
Miller, P., and Heimert, A., eds. The Great Awakening: Docu-
ments.Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967.
Wood, Gordon. The Radicalism of the American Revolution.New
York: Knopf, 1991.Greek political theory
The political ideas developed in ancient or “CLASSICAL”
Greece (400–200 B.C.) especially around Athens. Lead-
ing Greek political thinkers are SOCRATES, PLATO, and
ARISTOTLE, great classical Western philosophers who
first developed written concepts of JUSTICE, DEMOCRACY,
VIRTUE, RIGHTS, EQUALITY, LIBERTY, and ETHICS. Their bril-
liance in framing these fundamental political ideals and
questions (as in Plato’s Republicand Laws;Aristotle’s
Politics and Nicomachean Ethics) influence the rest
of Western political thought to the present day. Later
CHRISTIANthinkers (St. AUGUSTINE, St. Thomas AQUINAS,
John CALVIN), Roman philosophers (CICERO, JUSTINIAN)
and MODERN REPUBLICANS(James HARRINGTON, ROUSSEAU,
Thomas JEFFERSON, John MILTON) to contemporary
American political theorists (John RAWLS, Benjamin BAR-
BER, Leo STRAUSS, Wilson Carey MCWILLIAMS) have been
influenced by these original Greek political philoso-
phers. Our intellectual debt to Greek political thought
in the West is immeasurable.
Although diverse in ideas and emphases, most
Greek political theorists provide a NATURAL LAWview of
humanity and society (that humans operate within
natural abilities and limits) that commends an ideal of
public virtue (individual self-sacrifice for the common
good), justice (the harmonious ordering of parts