DEC. 13, 2004
UPDATED SEPT. 15, 2006

BELIEFS & PRACTICES
Bush sees 'Great Awakening'

God seems to be everywhere lately, from magazine covers and best-selling books to government to schools. Is the United States in the midst of a "Great Awakening" - a period of sweeping religious fervor, revival and renewal that has occurred three times in U.S. history? Some scholars say yes, some say no and some say something more subtle is going on.

Is the United States more religious now than it was 50 or 100 years ago? Have believers become so comfortable in expressing their faith in the public sphere that religion has become part of the American wallpaper? Or are the culture wars - with debates over gay marriage, abortion, prayer in schools, the Ten Commandments and decency on the airwaves - merely a sign that religious groups have become more comfortable in the public square, as well as more vocal and more media-savvy?

Why it Matters
If the United States is on the cusp of a Great Awakening, major changes could be in store for the American religious landscape, including constitutional and legislative efforts that affect how religion is practiced in the public square. Scholars say the first three Great Awakenings led to social and political change, including the push for independence, the wording of the U.S. Constitution, the abolitionist movement and social activism, including the labor movement.

Questions for reporters
• What are the signs that we are entering a period of Great Awakening?
• What are the signs that we are not? If we are on the verge of a Great Awakening, what are the possible outcomes? Social reform? Educational reform? A peace movement? A more conservative social agenda?
• What does it mean, if anything, to the possibility of a Great Awakening that an evangelical Christian is in the White House?
• All three Great Awakenings have been exclusively Christian. Could the next Great Awakening encompass other faiths?

See also 2005: Apocalypse now?

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• Robert William Fogel is the author of The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism (University of Chicago Press, 2000). He has written that renewed interest in religion and spirituality in the United States is evidence of a fourth Great Awakening, which he says can more evenly distribute "spiritual resources," such as self-esteem, in society. He is the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics and a professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. Contact 773-702-7709, frfogel@chicagogsb.edu.
• Philip Goff is director of the Center for the Study of American Religion and Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, Ind. He says the United States is not nearing a Great Awakening. What he sees is a shift in worship style from traditional to "new paradigm" forms, which are characterized by an emotional connection with God rather than a doctrinal connection to a denomination. He says that the new paradigm churches have essentially changed the definition of "moral values," so that issues that were once considered moral issues - poverty, civil rights, a just economy, and war - have been upstaged by personal and emotional issues as abortion and homosexuality. Contact 317-274-8410, pgoff@iupui.edu.
• Rodney Stark is a professor of sociology and anthropology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is author of several books about the American religious landscape, including The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation, with William Sims Bainbridge (University of California Press, 1996). He recently constructed a timeline of religious measures from national polls from the 1950s to the present, which he says shows no spike in religious attendance or conviction. Instead, he believes Great Awakenings are a media construction that occur when reporters "discover" that we are essentially a religious nation and conclude that religion is on the increase. Contact 254-710-7220, socstark@aol.com.
• Michael McClymond is a professor of theological studies at St. Louis University. He is currently editing the Encyclopedia of Religious Revivals in America (Greenwood Press, forthcoming). He does not think we are in the midst of a Great Awakening but says that "fervent prayer" is a leading indicator of a coming revival and that right now he sees many indications that some people in evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches are praying more fervently than during the last generation or two. Contact 314-977-2881, michael@slu.edu.
• Stephen Prothero is the author of American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2003). He is an associate professor of religion at Boston University. Contact 617-353-4426, prothero@bu.edu.
• Alice Bach is an associate professor of Catholic studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She is author of Religion, Politics and Media in the Broadband Era (Sheffield Phoenix Press, forthcoming). She says she does think we are in the midst of a Great Awakening, but it is taking a different form from previous awakenings. It is chiefly characterized by "a populist groundswell" to return to a "Christian moral" country. Contact 216-368-1637, asherah1@adelphia.net.
• John Hannah is department chair and Distinguished Professor of Historical Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Hannah has received the Charles A. Nash Award in Church History on three separate occasions, and has written extensively in that field. He can discuss the Great Awakenings. Contact through Mark Yarbrough, 214-874-4460, myarbrough@dts.edu.

Background

• Read a Sept. 13, 2006, Washington Post column about Bush’s recognition of a "Great Awakening."
• See a March 18, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times story about the possibility of a "Great Awakening."
• See a chart outlining the previous three "Great Awakenings," based on Robert William Fogel’s book The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism.
• Read a lecture on the First Great Awakening, given by Terry Matthews of Wake Forest University as part of his course on religious life in the United States.
• Read an essay from the University of Virginia's department of American studies on the Second Great Awakening and the rise of evangelicalism.
• Nationmaster.com maintains an encyclopedia that has multiple entries on the impact and importance of American Great Awakenings.