History of Christianity

=== Awakenings (1730s–1850s) ===
Revival, known as the [[First Great Awakening]], swept through the American colonies between the 1730s and the 1770s. Both religious and political in nature, it had roots in German [[Pietism]] and British Evangelicalism, and was a response to the extreme rationalism of [[biblical criticism]], the anti-Christian tenets of the Enlightenment, and its threat of assimilation by the modern state.{{sfn|Ward|2006|pp=329; 347}}{{sfn|Heyrman|n.d.}}{{sfn|Smith|2014|p=19}}{{sfn|Valkenburgh|1994|p=172}}

Beginning among the [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]], revival quickly spread to [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]] (Puritans) and [[Baptist]]s, creating [[Evangelicalism in the United States|American Evangelicalism]] and [[Wesleyan theology|Wesleyan Methodism]].{{sfn|Jones|White|2012|p=xi; xv}} Battles over the movement and its dramatic style raged at both the congregational and denominational levels. This caused the division of American Protestantism into political 'Parties', for the first time, which eventually led to critical support for the American Revolution.{{sfn|Heimert|2006|p=2}}

In places like Connecticut and Massachusetts, where one denomination received state funding, churches now began to lobby local legislatures to end that inequity by applying the Reformation principle [[Separation of church and state in the United States|separating church and state]].{{sfn|Heyrman|n.d.}} Theological pluralism became the new norm.{{sfn|Ward|2006|p=347}}

The [[Second Great Awakening]] (1800–1830s) extolled moral reform as the Christian alternative to armed revolution. They established societies, separate from any church, to begin social reform movements concerning [[Abolitionism|abolition]], [[women's rights]], [[Temperance movement|temperance]] and to "teach the poor to read".{{sfn|Masters|Young|2022|loc=abstract}} These were pioneers in developing nationally integrated forms of organization, a practice which businesses adopted that led to the consolidations and mergers that reshaped the American economy.{{sfn|Mintz|1995|pp=51–53}} Here lie the beginnings of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], the [[Restoration Movement]] and the [[Holiness movement]]. The [[Third Great Awakening]] began from 1857 and was most notable for taking the movement throughout the world, especially in English speaking countries.{{sfn|Cairns|2015|p=26}}

[[Restorationism|Restorationists]] were prevalent in America, but they have not described themselves as a reform movement but have, instead, described themselves as ''restoring'' the Church to its original form as found in the book of Acts. It gave rise to the [[Restoration Movement|Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement]], [[Adventism]], and the [[Jehovah's Witnesses]].{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=635}}{{sfn|Mannion|Mudge|2008|p=217}} 
[[File:Slavery19.jpg|thumb|left|An example of an anti-slavery tract|alt=example of an anti-slavery tract concerning the separation of black families]]
[[File:Sojourner Truth, 1870 (cropped, restored).jpg|thumb|Born into slavery, [[Sojourner Truth]] escaped with her infant daughter in 1826, became an abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance. This photograph was taken in Swartekill, New York, 1870 (cropped, restored)|alt=this is a restored photo of Sojourner Truth who escaped slavery and became an abolitionist]]
For over 300 years, Christians in Europe and North America participated in the [[Atlantic slave trade|Trans-Atlantic slave trade]].{{sfn|Brown|2006|pp=517–518}} Moral objections had surfaced very soon after the establishment of the trade.{{refn|group=note|Thereafter, missions to the slaves attempted, Brown says, to "make slaveholding conform with the ideal of Christian servitude, and to render the institution more humane and more just."{{sfn|Brown|2006|p=521}} However, for many owners, missionary work among the slaves was a threat that would blur social boundaries and encourage slaves to see themselves as a Christian community equal to those who held them in bondage. Masters often held religion in contempt, and typically harassed converts and forbade access to other Christians.{{sfn|Brown|2006|pp=521–523; 524}}}} The Religious Society of Friends ([[Quakers]]), followed by [[Methodism|Methodists]], [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]] and [[Baptists]], campaigned, wrote, and spread pamphlets against the Atlantic slave trade and organized the first [[American Anti-Slavery Society|anti-slavery societies]].{{sfn|Brown|2006|pp=519,520,528}} Those impacted by the Second Great Awakening continued this.{{sfn|Brown|2006|pp=525–528}}{{sfn|Morgan|2022}} In the years after the American Revolution, black congregations led by black preachers brought revival, promoted communal and cultural autonomy, and provided the institutional base for keeping abolitionism alive.{{sfn|Brown|2006|p=530}}

Abolitionism did not flourish in absolutist states, and slavery and human-trafficking remain common in twenty-first century Islamic states.{{sfn|Brown|2006|p=533}}{{sfn|Ibrahim|2023|p=449}} It was the Protestant revivalists in both England and America, the Quaker example, African Americans themselves, and the new American republic that produced the "gradual but comprehensive abolition of slavery" in the West.{{sfn|Brown|2006|pp=525–526}}