Fourth Great Awakening

The Fourth Great Awakening is a religious awakening that some scholars believe took place in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It should be noted that this terminology is controversial -- many historians believe that the religious changes that took place during these years in the U.S. were not part of an "awakening", to be understood like the first three awakenings. Thus, the idea of a Fourth Great Awakening itself has not been generally accepted.

Some historians believe that widespread religious awakenings occur with some regularity in the United States and would expect one such awakening to have taken place in in the mid-20th Century. For these historians and scholars, the most likely candidate for such an awakening took place is during the 1960s and early 1970s: the hippie, or counterculture movement(s).

The context in which it took place

By the 1940s and early 1950s, most of the progressive ideals of the Third Great Awakening had already been put into place. There was a general social consensus among the G.I. Generation regarding the social and religious values of the day, yet certain groups, such as the Beatnicks found this postwar consensus wanting. Such groups, which reacted against the conservative mores of the 1950s, are generally understood as being precursors to the Fourth Great Awakening.

In the years following the 1940s, values had been slowly changing, particularly among the younger generation. For instance, in the area of civil rights, a National Opinion Research Center study determined that among whites, the number who approved neighborhood integration had risen from 42% in 1943 to 72% in 1963, and the proportion favoring school integration had risen even more impressively to 75%. Blacks had also begun to mobilize regarding civil rights, in the form of 1,000 civil rights demonstrations in 209 cities during a three-month period beginning May 1963. As a result of these changes in public opinion, the House kicked off the Fourth Great Awakening by passing the Civil Rights act of 1964, with a vote of 290-130, Republicans favoring the bill 138-34, Democrats supported it 152-96, 92 of whom were from the South.[1]

The Vietnam Conflict was to play a major role in the course of the Fourth Great Awakening, as it led a great number of people to question the values of the older "technocrat" generations, and seek to develop new and better avenues of spiritual and ethical thought.

The New Sects of the Fourth Great Awakening

Some religious groups which grew or were created during this period were Christian, though quite different from other Christian denominations, though others drew upon other religious traditions. Due to increased contact with other cultures in the 20th century, The Fourth Great Awakening looked beyond Christianity for inspration, and some of the groups which grew or were created during this time were New Age, Wiccan, and Neo-Pagan. Eastern Philosophy, such as Buddhism and Hinduism also influenced these groups although in a form so modified by Western thought as to be almost unrecognizable by their native practitioners. "Parody" religions, such as Discordianism, were proposed as well, though they found few adhearants.

Christianity also saw a great deal of change during this period, particularly new forms of Evangelical Christianity which emphasized a "Personal Relationship with Jesus" and formed into a number of newly styled "non-denominational" churches and "community faith centers."

The Fourth Great Awakening also saw the rise of nontraditional churches with conservative theology such as megachurches and a growth of parachurch organizations. Furthermore, mainline Protestantism lost many members during these years.

Sources

• Robert William Fogel; The Fourth Great Awakening & the Future of Egalitarianism; 2000, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226256626
• William Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning, New York: Broadway Books, 1997.

See also

• Consciousness Revolution
• Jesus Movement