American Transcendentalism was in some ways a reaction against which of the following?

Question

The first Great Awakening
The second Great Awakening
English Romanticism
Populism

Answer 1

The First Great Awakening

Transcendentalism cannot be properly understood outside the context of Unitarianism, the dominant religion in Boston during the early nineteenth century. Unitarianism had developed during the late eighteenth century as a branch of the liberal wing of Christianity, which had separated from Orthodox Christianity during the First Great Awakening of the 1740s. That Awakening, along with its successor, revolved around the questions of divine election and original sin, and saw a brief period of revivalism. The Liberals tended to reject both the persistent Orthodox belief in inherent depravity and the emotionalism of the revivalists; on one side stood dogma, on the other stood pernicious "enthusiasm." The Liberals, in a kind of amalgamation of Enlightenment principles with American Christianity, began to stress the value of intellectual reason as the path to divine wisdom. The Unitarians descended as the Boston contingent of this tradition, while making their own unique theological contribution in rejecting the doctrine of divine trinity.

The Transcendentalist movement was a reaction against 18th century rationalism and a manifestation of the general humanitarian trend of 19th century thought.
Transcendentalism was a philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England as a reaction against 18th century rationalism, the skeptical philosophy of John Locke, and the confining religious orthodoxy of New England Calvinism.


Its beliefs were idealistic, mystical, eclectic and individualistic, shaped by the ideas of Plato, Plotinus, as well as the teachings of Confucious, the sufis, and the writers of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

Answer 2

Calvinists are not self satisfied with election in this century. We believe in grace. Not a baseball team and also we are middle of the road insofar as we accept both Liberal and Conservative thought in our theology as the only thing we ask is to believe in a Sovereign God, The Trinity, and Jesus Christ Dying for our sins. We are optomistic because we believe Jesus is a promise keeper and that is not in the least Banal. I have a sermon my Pastor Preached just this Sunday that explains this much better than I but it's on Microsoft word and I don't know how to transfer it here. But you can be very creative and open when your head is not hard and your heart is open to new and re birth