Evangelicalism and Revivalism

Evangelical Protestantism first came to prominence in the English-speaking world in the eighteenth century, and it soon became a major strain in American religious and cultural life. As such, it has had an important influence on constructions of manhood in America, particularly in its emphasis on emotional display, self-abasement, and submission to God.

Evangelicalism first reached colonial America during the revivals of the eighteenth-century Great Awakening. In these revivals, Anglo-American evangelicals like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Wesley developed the emphases that became central to evangelical Christian constructions of manhood: (1) an emphasis on faith-based personal experience rather than ritualized forms of worship; (2) an antiestablishment posture privileging the individual's heartfelt relationship to God rather than adherence to church doctrine; (3) a premium on conversion, ...