Over the next several weeks, this
blog will feature posts about the early nineteenth century camp meetings such
as the Cane Ridge Revival[1]
in Bourbon County Kentucky which happened in August 1801. It was organized and
promoted over several months as a Presbyterian celebration of Holy Communion. While
Holy Communion remains a very important ordinance in every modern Christian
denomination and church, it is usually embedded in a regular congregational
meeting, taking no more than about 30 minutes. This was not the case with
eighteenth and early nineteenth century Presbyterians. Consistent with the
traditions brought to the United States by Scottish Presbyterians, Communion
took at least three days. First the prospective participants were required to
prove that they were spiritually qualified to receive the bread and wine that
represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The next day was for the actual
sacramental meal. The third day was given to praise and thanks to God for what
they had experienced.
The Cane Ridge Meeting House had
been appointed as a place where people from all over the frontier should gather
for a four-day Communion celebration. Some scholars estimate that some 20,000
people serendipitously turned up at the small log church in their wagons and on
foot. They were prepared to camp for a few days. The journals of the Christians who were present record that, besides the Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists
also came. They describe a very loud din from the singing, praying, preaching,
and people agonizing over God’s claims on their souls. The activity continued
night and day for a week. There were people at Cane Ridge of every age and ethnicity, both
enslaved and free. The journals also insist that the Holy Spirit was
present and that He took over the meeting.
Many historians consider that the
Cane Ridge Revival initiated the Second Great Awakening in America. This
revival spread across the country through the pop-up phenomenon of outdoor camp
meetings. In addition to triggering the emergence of a grassroots expression of
American Christianity in response to the nation’s commitment to the separation
of church and state, camp meetings influenced cultural and social shifts in the
nation that impacted antebellum attitudes, conflicts, laws, and changes to the
status quo. So many people embraced the Christian faith at these camp meetings
that antebellum attitudes changed concerning: the separation of church and
state, the role of women and children, temperance, Sabbath laws and slavery.
Camp meetings provided unprecedented opportunities for Americans from different
cultural, racial, ethnic and generational backgrounds to mingle. Camp meetings
were the catalyst for the development of American folk music and of Negro Spirituals.
In fact, without providing students with an understanding of the religious
impulse released at these camp meetings, it is difficult for them to grasp the
reasons for the changes that happened within our culture.
The early nineteenth century camp
meetings started in Kentucky. While you can still visit the Cane Ridge Meeting
House and Museum, the site’s interpretation is more focused on the history of one
denomination and on the significant architecture of the log meeting house than
on reimagining the events and ideas from the 1801 revival. The Kentucky Faith
& Public History Education Project is creating an outdoor re-imagined early
nineteenth century camp meeting using Living History methods for public school
students on field trips. We hope to have the outdoor classroom available
(COVID-19 precautions permitting) by September 2021. Meanwhile, over the next
several weeks, look for blog posts that will consider how these revival
meetings impacted and shifted American culture and societal norms.
©2021 by Lesley Barker PhD
Comments
Post a Comment