George Whitefield’s Religious Thoughts And The Influence Of The Colonies In North America

George Whitefield had a large number of followers as a famous leader of “religionrevival” in the18th Century both in England and its North American colonies. Following hisas long as thirty-four years’ itinerant preach the thought of “doctrine of the Grace”,“NewBirth” and “The joint of different Christian denominations” have the significant influence;with the addition of the use of newspaper made him set up a “inter-colonies” religion revival,and help to promote the establishment of the new order in North American Christianity,inspired “freedom, equality, democracy " of the people in North America, formed a "religious public space "and" public religious culture " in North America.This dissertation is composed of the introduction, main body and the conclusion. Theintroduction mainly introduces the reason of choosing such research objectives andinnovations and shortcomings of this dissertation, and then makes an overview of the previousresearch works by foreign and Chinese scholars.There are three parts in the main body:The first part tracks back to the background of George Whitefield’s religion thoughts. Onone hand, make a simple description of the forming his thoughts’ objective environment,namely the social environment and religious environment of Britain18th century; On theother hand, make a overview of the forming of his thoughts’ subjective conditions, just theincidents have a great influence on the life, they are “the renewable”,“for the first time acrosstheAtlantic”,“preach in the open-air and wildness”.The second part introduces George Whitefield’s religious thought and his characteristicand means in his itinerant preach. From Whitefield’s sermons and letters can be seen his viewof “the original sin" and "the doctrine of Grace","New Birth", Christendom joint thought.And Whitefield’s though has an extensive impact on the Northern, middle part and Southernin the North American colonies, and his speech talent, his firm faith, the situation at that timeand the use of newspaper media can all contribute to his success.The third part analysis the influence of George Whitefield’s religious thoughts spread inthe North American colonies. Each class to the sermon colonies have a strong reaction; Hisitinerant preach promoted the establishment of the new order in North American Christianity,inspired “freedom, equality, democracy” of the people in North America, lay the foundationof each Christian denominations for joint, push forward the education and charity career ofNorth America directly; And helped contribute to North America "religious public space",improve the people’s thinking and reading ability, promoted the north American people’s"public religious culture" indirectly.The section of conclusion makes a brief summary about the George Whitefield’sreligious thoughts and its influence in North American colonies, Whitefield’s religiousthought is from the early Puritan’s religious thoughts, but also of the development of Luther’s“justification by faith” and Calvin’s “doctrine of predestination”, make up for theirs lack ofmoral law and still has great enlightenment to today’s society.