This was the definition of the great awakening that was in my textbook. I don't understand it. Can you please tell me what it means. Thank You.

The Great Awakening is when the Orthodox Calvinists sought to combat Enlightment rationalism, which denied innate human depravity.

This means that Orthodox Calvinists believed that every human was born sinful. Enlightenment rationalism believed that people had the God-given freedom to do good or evil.

Thank You for your help. I have one more question. Can you please explain to me what this means.This textbook is really hard to understand. We have a test tomorrow so I'm trying to make sense of this stuff.

New Lights defended the rights of individuals to dissent from a community consensus that ended up challenging fundamental tenents of colonial political life.

You're welcome.

New Lights were more modern thinkers within Christian churches. They believed that people had the right to disagree with what the majority of people thought. This dissension shook up the colonial communities.

Certainly! The Great Awakening refers to a significant religious movement that took place during the 18th century in colonial America. During that time, there was a growing influence of Enlightenment rationalism, which emphasized reason and the inherent goodness of human nature. However, Orthodox Calvinists, who were followers of a strict interpretation of Calvinism, saw this as a threat to their beliefs.

Calvinists believed in the concept of innate human depravity, meaning that humans are naturally sinful and need to be saved by God's grace. In contrast, the Enlightenment thinkers argued that humans were inherently rational and capable of moral improvement through reason.

So, the Great Awakening was a response by Orthodox Calvinists to combat the ideas of the Enlightenment rationalists, who rejected the notion of inherent human depravity. During this religious revival, passionate preachers delivered powerful sermons, leading to a wave of religious fervor and spiritual awakening among the colonists.

To understand the concept more fully, you could delve deeper into the historical context of the Great Awakening, examine the key figures and events associated with it, and explore its impact on colonial society and subsequent American history.