Third Great Awakening

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The Third Great Awakening was a period of religious activism in American history from 1858 to 1908. It is also called the Missionary Awakening or Social Gospel Movement. The awakening in so many cities in 1858 started the movement, but in the North it was interrupted by the Civil War. In the South, on the other hand, the Civil War stimulated revivals, especially in Lee's army. After the war Dwight Moody made revivalism the centerpiece of his activities in Chicago (see Moody Bible Institute). The hymns of Ira Sankey were especially influential.

Gilded Age plutocracy came under harsh attack from the Social Gospel preachers and with reformers in the Progressive Era. Robert Fogel identifies numerous reforms, especially the battles against child labor, compulsory elementary education and the protection of women from exploitation in factories. [Fogel 108]. In addition there was a major crusade for the prohibition of alcohol, as well as attacks on cigarettes. On the positive side the major religious denominations all sponsored growing missionary activities inside the United States and around the world. Colleges associated with churches rapidly expanded in number, size and quality of curriculum. The YMCA became a force in many cities, as did denominational youth groups such as the Epworth League (Methodist) and the Walther League (Lutheran).

The New Sects of the Third Great Awakening

The Third Great Awakening was a series of attempts at creating new belief systems in the face of assertions that the Bible was fallible. Mary Baker Eddy introduced Christian Science, which gained a national following. Modernist Christianity, a more moderate approach, attempted to reconcile or change the teachings of the Bible to fit with new scientific theories. In 1880 the Salvation Army denomination arrived in America. Although its theology was based on ideals expressed during the Second Great Awakening, its focus on poverty was of the Third. The Society for Ethical Culture was established in New York in 1876 by Felix Adler.

References

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• Bordin Ruth. Frances Willard: A Biography University of North Carolina Press, 1986.
• Bordin Ruth. Woman and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900 Temple University Press, 1981.
• Curtis Susan. A Consuming Faith: The Social Gospel and Modern American Culture. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
• Dieter Melvin Easterday. The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century Scarecrow Press, 1980.
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• Dorsett Lyle W. A Passion for Souls: The Life of D. L. Moody. Moody Press, 1997.
• Bruce J. Evensen; God's Man for the Gilded Age: D.L. Moody and the Rise of Modern Mass Evangelism Oxford University Press, 2003
• Findlay James F. Dwight L. Moody: American Evangelist, 1837-1899 University of Chicago Press, 1969.
• Finke Roger, and Rodney Stark. The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy Rutgers University Press, 1992.
• Fishwick, Marshall W. Great Awakenings: Popular Religion and Popular Culture (1995)
• Robert William Fogel. The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism (2000)
• Hutchison William R. Errand to the World: American Protestant Thought and Foreign

Missions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

• Richard Jensen. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (1971)
• Kathryn Teresa Long; The Revival of 1857-58: Interpreting an American Religious Awakening Oxford University Press, 1998
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• Sizer, Sandra. Gospel Hymns and Social Religion: The Rhetoric of Nineteenth-Century RevivalismTemple University Press, 1978.
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• Weisberger Bernard A. They Gathered at the River: The Story of the Great Revivalists and Their Impact upon Religion in America Little, Brown, 1958.