KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 The Great Awakening: Its Impact on American Higher Education PARK Hyung-Jin, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Mission History, Torch Trinity Graduate University, South Korea I. Introduction II. Two Old Posts of American Higher Education: Harvard and Yale III. The Germ of the Educational Awakening IV. The Great Awakening: The Road to the Educational Awakening V. Educational Ideals of the Great Awakening: Piety and Learning VI. Features of the Educational Awakening VII. Summary and Conclusion Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology Vol. 52 No. 4 (2020. 11), 63-96 DOI: 10.15757/kpjt.2020.52.4.003 64 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 Abstract In the history of faith in America, the Great Awakening, started from 1720s, marked a milestone in American church history with its awakening message on repentance and new birth to the dormant churches in America where many moved for religious freedom and settled down with the Puritan ideal. The Great Awakening is a revival movement which not only brought quickening the churches but also splitting the churches that was caused by different attitudes towards revival movement. Among the two existing old posts, Harvard, established in 1636 with Puritan ideal, was abandoning orthodox Trinitarianism and embracing Unitarianism; Yale, with its opposition to revivalism, was dismissing those students who welcomed revivalism. Revivalism, the spiritual currents of that times, and its demand of new ministers to spread the fervor of the revivalism prompted those ministers who felt the need of new educational institution overcoming the apathy of the two old posts to found the new schools. One good example was ‘The Log College’ which later contributed to the birth of Princeton University (then The College of New Jersey). That ignited and spurred the birth of similar institutions. Though the primary goal of the new schools was in the typical motivation of rearing ministers, the scope of education was beyond this ministerial purpose. The new institutions became a birthplace for the modern education with emphasis on science. In this vein, the Great Awakening in America can be called as ‘the educational awakening.” Keywords America, The Great Awakening, Revivalism, The Log College, American Higher Education The Great Awakening: Its Impact on American Higher Education DOI: 10.15757/kpjt.2020.52.4.003 65 I. INTRODUCTION The impact of the Great Awakening on American culture and society was broad and enormous. In religious mood, it divided American Christianity into two sides: pro-revivalism and anti-revivalism. The sharp issue was on whether one was a revivalist or an anti-revivalist rather than whether one was a Congregationalist, Presbyterian, or Baptist.1 In the other aspect, however, the Great Awakening was paradoxically an interdenominational and intercolonial movement in that the common revivalistic spirit served to draw diverse church bodies together to strive for the common goal: winning the soul. Not only did it cause division within denominations, but it also stimulated the missions to the Indians and the founding of educational institutions. Especially in the educational realm, it ushered the colonial education to new avenues. Prior to 1740 the colonies had only three colleges: Harvard, Yale, and William and Mary. By 1776 there were nine colleges; among six new ones, four had been founded by ministers and laymen with revivalist backgrounds and points of view.2 Those colleges have developed into major universities and produced influential leaders for the church and the nation. This paper focuses on the impact of the first Great Awakening on the early American higher education. In this study, I will discuss the birth of the major colleges which stemmed from the revival movement. For the discussion, the following questions will be considered: How did the Awakening motivate the establishment of the new institutions? Who were the key figures? What was the vision of the new schools? How did those schools influence American education? In Korea, there are some historical studies done in the impact of the religious movement on education.3 Among them, some are 1 Douglas Sloan, ed., The Great Awakening and American Education: A Documentary History (New York: Teachers College Press, 1973), 28. 2 Ibid., 19. 3 For example, Jung Joong Ho et al, “Jonggyojeok kodeung kyoyuk edaehan seon- seojeok yuksajeok baekyung yongu” [A Study of the Biblical and Historical Background of the Religious Higher Education], Journal of the Church History Society in Korea 6 (1994. 6), 121-204. This study is a very comprehensive historical survey. 66 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 related to the impact of the Protestant Reformation.4 Others are associated with the impact of the Pietism.5 However, there are only a few articles in Korean that briefly mention about the educational impact of the Great Awakening, especially the founding of college.6 In spite of the increasing interests in spiritual renewal movements as well as enthusiastic aspiration for academic learning in the US, not many research was conducted in Korean about the relationship between the Great Awakening and its impact on American higher education. In this context, this article will contribute to the recognition of the significance of religion in its impact on modern education. II. TWO OLD POSTS OF AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION: HARVARD AND YALE Before the Great Awakening, colonial education was really scanty. The early two colleges, Harvard (1636) and Yale (1701) were founded with Puritan vision. They had been the main channels through which ministers were produced in the colonies. 4 Yang Kum-Hee, “Jonggyo gaehyuk gieui hakkyo, kyohoi, geurigo kukkaeui kwangye edaehan yongu” [The Relationship between Church, Country and Academic Institutions during the Protestant Reformation], Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology 44-4 (2012. 12), 345-72; Lim Hee-Kuk, “Zwingli jonggyo gaehyuk eui yoosan gwa hankuk (Pyongyang) ‘jangrohoi sinhakgyo’ sinhak kyoyuk” [Zwingli’s Reformation Legacy and Theological Education of Korean Presbyterian Theological Seminary],Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology45-1 (2013. 3), 93-117. 5 Yang Seung-Hwan, “A. H. Francke eui kyoyuk ihae wa yeonghyang” [A. H. Fran- cke’s Understanding of Education and His Influence], Journal of the Church History Society in Korea 41 (2015. 9), 7-37. 6 Oh Deok-Kyo, “New England eui daegakseong woondong” [The Great Awakening in New England], Presbyterian Theological Quarterly 49-2 (1982. 6), 114; Shim Chang- Sub, “Keundae booheung woondongeui kyohoi kyoyukjeok ihae” [An Understanding of the Church Education in the Light of the Modem Religious Revivalism], Presbyterian Theological Quarterly 73-4 (2006. 12), 165; Ko Yong-Su, “21 segireul hyanghan kidokkyo hakyoeui jeonmanggwa hankuk kyohoieui kwaje” [The Prospect of the Christian Schools and the Task of Korean Church towards the 21st Century], Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology 10 (1994. 11), 607. The Great Awakening: Its Impact on American Higher Education 67 After God had carried us safe to New England & wee had builded our houses provided necessaries for our liveli-hood reard convenient places for Gods worship and setled the Civil Government: One of the next things wee longed for and looked after was to advance Learning and perpetuate it to Prosperity dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches when our present ministers shall lie in the Dust.7 This statement shows the Puritan vision of education in early America. Harvard was founded with such Puritan vision and was modeled after Cambridge. John Harvard was a graduate of Emmanuel College, a Puritan foundation of Cambridge University established to provide a preaching ministry for the church. In the same manner, Harvard was the first church college in America. Helpful supporters in the founding of Harvard, such as John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and John Preston, were all Emmanuel fellows. Among the leaderships afterwards, Increase Mather was one of the greatest American Puritans and a voice for orthodox Calvinism. When he was appointed a president at Harvard in 1685, he accepted it in the terms of part-time work because of his zeal for the parish ministry that he already undertook in Boston as a celebrated preacher. His absence from the campus left his able fellows to control over the students. John Leverett who had liberal spirit thought that Harvard was no longer to be considered a seminary for ministers of the orthodox Congregational faith. In 1708, he was elected to the presidency. The death of Increase Mather in 1723 marked the decline of the era of the New England Puritanism. A wealthy merchant of London, Thomas Hollis, gave funds to endow Harvard’s first chair. The Hollis Professorship eventually embraced Unitarianism. With the loss of professorship at Harvard to the Unitarians, Harvard College evolved from Calvinism to Uni- tarianism. The unfriendly spirit of Harvard on the Great Awakening was manifested in its reaction to George Whitefield’s visit in the Boston area in 1740. Whitefield’s dramatic and powerful preaching stirred the whole Boston area excepting Harvard. Whitefield responded that “piety 7 Guy E. Snavely, The Church and the Four-Year College (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955), 10. 68 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 and true Godliness” were not much better at Harvard than was true at Cambridge and Oxford.8 1701, the same year when Increase Mather was dropped from the presidency, became