Movie Review: A Great Awakening, the history behind the movie

A Great Awakening poster. Image: Wikipedia

MOVIE REVIEW: A GREAT AWAKENING, THE HISTORY BEHIND IT

“Arise, O sleeper, awaken!”

This phrase, famously associated with the great evangelical preacher George Whitefield, is featured in his open-air sermon in Philadelphia in the movie A Great Awakening…

“Let us proclaim freedom to the captives. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Arise, O sleeper, awaken!” 

This new historical drama, the second film from the Pennsylvania theatre company Sight & Sound Films, is getting great word-of-mouth coverage. A friend of mine said I have to see it.

Is the film historically accurate, does it correctly connect the Great Awakening to the American Revolution, and is it worth seeing?

The Film

While I doubt it will have as wide an audience as the recent blockbuster Project Hail Mary – which I reviewed here – it’s worth seeing. It’s moving, well-acted, powerfully scored, sumptuously filmed, and capably directed – especially considering the need for frequent flashbacks. It’s emotionally stirring and thought-provoking, and even inspirational. And from my perspective, pretty historically accurate. Sure, there were some invented conversations between Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield, but 90% of the speeches are based on the actual recorded words of these two men.

The movie, told primarily from Benjamin Franklin‘s perspective, is about the Reverend George Whitefield, the greatest preacher of the first Great Awakening in American history. It traces the unlikely business partnership between the Philadelphia printer Ben Franklin and the English preacher George Whitefield. Franklin was a “free thinker,” a man of the Enlightenment, a deist. Whitefield was a British Anglican priest who embraced a fiery, Calvinistic form of evangelism.

The movie, noting the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, draws an explicit parallel between the “liberty” of spiritual freedom in the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 40s, and the “liberty” of the American experiment, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

The film’s tagline is:

“Before the Revolution, there was a Revelation.”

Ben Franklin’s grandson asks him about George Whitefield, whether he was involved in the American Revolution. Franklin answers:

“George Whitefield was the Revolution.”

Historically, this connection is more correct than the non-historian would think. The Great Awakening occurred when the Founding Fathers were growing up. It represented a less liturgical form of Protestantism than had previously been seen in either America or England. It called for repentance of sin, a need for redemption, and a sense of personal spiritual conviction that transformed personal morality.

An example of this is the Great Awakening sermon by the American preacher, theologian, and philosopher Jonathan Edwards called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” where members fell on the floor of the church crying,

“I’m going to Hell, I’m going to Hell!”

Impact of the Great Awakening on America

The Great Awakening impacted several dimensions of American life:

• In America, 80% of Americans unified in a common understanding of Christian life and faith, a result of The Great Awakening

• This Awakening had a major impact on several denominations: Congregational, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and German Reformed. Additionally, it strengthened the smaller Methodist and Baptist denominations.

• It encouraged preaching to Native Americans and enslaved African Americans.

• There was a dissolution of “established” state churches in Virginia and North Carolina.

• George Whitefield was Calvinist in his theology. Thus, the Great Awakening energized a greater emphasis on education, with Whitefield’s followers building a church that ultimately became the University of Pennsylvania. The University of North Carolina’s first faculty were all trained Presbyterian ministers.

• In turn, these denominations helped propel Americans into the Revolution. People assumed new responsibilities in religious affairs and became skeptical of dogma and authority. These attitudes were the beginnings of a sense of independence and equality that would set the stage for the American Revolution. And, as the spirit of independence was proclaimed in the colonies by the Declaration of Independence, it was often the local clergy, like the Founding Father Reverend John Witherspoon, who rose to read to their congregations the words of that document, which would spark independence in America and elsewhere.

Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin

The film begins and ends in 1787 with Ben Franklin at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he recalls, through a series of flashbacks, his own life and the life of George Whitefield. I’ve previously written about Franklin’s life here, but I’ll add three historical stories that support the film’s portrayal of him.

1. Estimating the Size of Whitefield’s Audience

Benjamin Franklin described this in his Autobiography: he was initially skeptical of reports that Whitefield preached to enormous crowds of 25,000 or more people at a time, so he devised a practical experiment to test the claim.

When Whitefield preached outdoors in Philadelphia, Franklin walked backward away from him in a straight line until he could no longer hear Whitefield’s voice distinctly. He noted that distance. This gave him the radius of a circle.

From there, Franklin applied simple geometry. He calculated the area of a semicircle (since the crowd would fan out in front of the speaker, not behind him) using that distance as the radius with this equation: (π r²)/2, or pi times radius squared, divided by 2. He then estimated how many people could stand per square foot in a packed crowd, multiplied that density by the area, and arrived at a figure that — to his surprise — actually confirmed that Whitefield could plausibly have addressed tens of thousands of listeners at once. His acoustic experiment produced an estimate of 30,000 people.

2. Franklin’s Support for Whitefield’s Preaching

Whitefield’s followers in Philadelphia built a church for him to preach from and a charity school. Franklin bought the building in 1749. It later housed the Academy of Philadelphia in 1751, later known as the College of Philadelphia in 1755. It is now known as the University of Pennsylvania.

3. Franklin’s Lack of Support for Whitefield’s Preaching

From the time Whitefield first preached in Savannah, Georgia, in 1738, he determined to build an orphanage there. The British colony of Georgia had been a destination for “transport”, a punishment for petty thieves and debtors from England. As these prisoners were ill-equipped to care for themselves and their families, many children were left orphans.

Franklin suggested instead that it should be built in Philadelphia, as there were already many skilled craftsmen there, and the orphans could be moved up north from Georgia. But Whitefield insisted that the orphanage be built in Savannah and ignored Franklin’s advice.

Franklin attended one of Whitefield’s sermons in 1739, knowing there would be an offering taken up for the orphanage. Franklin determined that he would not give any money to the orphanage during the sermon. However, after listening to Whitefield’s eloquence, Franklin was later moved, as he said:

“I had in my Pocket a Handful of Copper Money, three or four silver Dollars, and five Pistoles [Spanish coins] in Gold. As he proceeded, I began to soften and concluded to give the Coppers. Another Stroke of his Oratory made me asham’d of that, and determin’d me to give the Silver; and he finish’d so admirably, that I emptied my Pocket wholly into the Collector’s Dish, Gold and all. “At this Sermon there was also one of our [Junto Literary] Club, who being of my Sentiments respecting the Building in Georgia, and suspecting a Collection might be intended, had by Precaution emptied his Pockets before he came from home; towards the Conclusion of the Discourse [sermon], however, he felt a strong Desire to give, and apply’d to a Neighbor who stood near him to borrow some Money for the Purpose.”

Franklin, having printed Whitefield’s sermons and knowing the difference between new ones and recycled ones, later observed of Whitefield that:

“His delivery of the latter was so improv’d by frequent repetitions that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turn’d and well plac’d, that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleas’d with the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that receiv’d from an excellent piece of musick.”

The Life of George Whitefield

Reverend George Whitefield. Image: Wikipedia

Let me fill in the historical gaps regarding George Whitefield from the film. It showed that his parents had an Inn in Gloucester, England. His father died when he was two, and George helped his mother run the inn.

Interest in Theatre

At an early age, George Whitefield was interested in the theatre and had a talent for acting. When it was time for college, the inn’s business had fallen off, and George’s mother was unable to pay for his education. So he attended Pembroke College, Oxford, as a servitor, the lowest class of undergraduate. Despite free tuition, he would act as a servant to other students, tutoring them, cleaning their rooms, carrying their books, and helping them bathe.

Oxford Holy Club

While at Oxford, he became acquainted with John and Charles Wesley, who we see in the film. Charles had started the “Holy Club” there, a group of students who met regularly to study the Bible, pray, and do charity work. But it was his brother John who later joined and was the driving force and organizer.

Charles Wesley

In 1735, the brothers traveled to Savannah, Georgia, at the request of the colony’s founder and governor, James Oglethorpe. Charles was appointed Secretary of Indian Affairs and served as a chaplain, among other responsibilities, but the next year returned to England. He subsequently became a prolific hymn writer. Indeed, his song Love Divine, All Loves Excelling is featured in the film.

John Wesley

John traveled to Georgia as a missionary to preach to the Native Americans in Savannah. Neither the local congregation nor the Native Americans received his “High Church” Anglicanism well. He later realized that though he was committed to Christ, he did not have a Christian spiritual experience. On his voyage from England to Georgia, he had witnessed a group of Moravians on board who, when a storm arose and other passengers panicked, calmly sang hymns and prayed.

John returned to England in 1737, discouraged and disillusioned. The next year, in London on May 24, 1738, he attended a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, where he heard the reading of Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to Romans, and he said:

“I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

John Wesley later founded the Methodist movement, initially a reform movement within the Church of England, but later a separate denomination. In America, the Methodists were the first Protestant denomination to reach 1,000,000 members. And all by evangelism, not by immigration from England.

The Adult Life of George Whitefield

While at Oxford, George Whitefield felt called to preach. Following college, he was ordained a minister of the Church of England and made a deacon at St. Mary de Crypt Church in Gloucester, but he was not assigned a church. So he preached in fields and parks, and in the open air in Bristol and to the Kingswood coal miners. He invited the Wesley brothers to adopt his preaching style.

Whitefield’s portable field pulpit. Image: Wesley Gospel Ministries

The film depicts him building a folding field pulpit and preaching in the open air. It was said that his voice was so loud that three miles from this field pulpit, a listener was converted. It is estimated that Whitefield preached two thousand sermons from his field pulpit. His sermons were “bluntly put and endlessly repeated.” He preached 40 hours per week, and the text was always John 1:29

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

George Whitefield: “Dr. Squintum”

Whitefield had strabismus, or “lazy eye,” which earned him the nickname “Dr. Squintum.” But it also made individuals in large crowds think that his eyes were directly on them.

His success has been attributed to his resonant voice, theatrical presentation, emotional stimulation, message simplification, and clever exploitation of emerging advertising techniques. Some have compared him to modern televangelists.

In one sermon, he preached:

“Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians? No! Any Presbyterians? No! Any Independents or Methodists? No, No, No! Whom have you there? We don’t know those names here. All who are here are Christians…Oh, is this the case? Then God help us to forget your party names and to become Christians in deed and truth.”

In essence, Whitefield reduced Christianity to its lowest common denominator – those sinners who love Jesus will go to heaven. Denominational distinctives were downplayed.

He was a dramatic man who could pronounce the word “Mesopotamia” in such a way that it could melt an audience. He would always say it at least once in his sermon, no matter the topic.

Whitefield made seven trips to America from England, died in America in 1770, and is buried in a crypt of the Old South Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

George Whitefield’s grave. Image: Wikipedia

The Punchline

On June 28, 1787, Ben Franklin, who was 81 at the time and the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention, delivered his famous speech, as recounted in the film. Expressing concern over the lack of progress and the divisive debates among the delegates:

“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that ‘except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it.’ “

He then proposed that the assembly begin each day with prayers to implore Heaven’s assistance. He reminded them that they had prayed daily over a decade earlier, during the Revolutionary War, and that they should seek divine guidance for this important task. Did his recommendation pass?

Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Image: Library of Congress

No, this motion received little support and was not voted upon; the Constitutional Convention did not begin daily prayers at Benjamin Franklin’s suggestion. They requested a priest to lead in prayer, but could not find one, so the practice of daily prayer was not instituted then. 

Hugh Williamson of North Carolina noted the lack of funds as a practical obstacle. Nevertheless, they adjourned for three days, during which time, they gathered at the Calvinist Reformed Church in Philadelphia, where the Rev. William Rogers prayed a special prayer over the Constitutional Convention.

Epilogue

Although a formal daily prayer had not yet begun, a prayer service was held on July 4, 1787, at a local church, led by General George Washington.

Alexander Hamilton is reported to have declared:

“For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which without the finger of God never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

James Madison, writing about the event later, said,

“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty Hand, which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical states of the revolution.”

The U.S. Congress, by contrast, did adopt the practice of opening with prayer, which continues to this day.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com