George Whitefield Awakens New York City

This chapter examines English evangelist George Whitefield's message of the “new birth” and how it came to resonate among a variety of New Yorkers, including adherents of the orthodox Dutch Reformed and Anglican Churches. Whitefield's influence on New Yorkers is best measured by focusing on his career as it intersected with the city's evolving religious life. In a process similar to that experienced by Dutch Reformed and Scottish Presbyterian traditionalists, devotees of Whitefield's brand of Christianity overcame ingrained habits and embraced novel religious ideas. During his seven-week stretch of preaching from December 1763 to January 1764, Whitefield sparked a religious awakening that touched New Yorkers of all backgrounds. This chapter considers how Whitefield's moral authority, augmented by his charismatic preaching, emboldened the people of New York City dwellers to challenge doctrines and practices they deemed inauthentic and to reject the counsel of men of stature in their churches.