The Voice of Reason: The Roman Empire, the Reformation, the Great Awakening and Woodstock with E Michael Jones

Wednesday, 14 January 2026

The Roman Empire, the Reformation, the Great Awakening and Woodstock with E Michael Jones

https://historyforkids.org/great-awakening/

Was Woodstock a kind of Great Awakening?

BRAVE:

Woodstock is widely regarded as a pivotal cultural and social event that marked a profound shift in American society, often likened to a transformative awakening. Held in August 1969 on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, the festival brought together nearly half a million people, most under thirty, during a time of intense national turmoil marked by the Vietnam War, civil rights struggles, and widespread anti-establishment sentiment.

It emerged as a powerful symbol of the 1960s counterculture, embodying ideals of peace, love, personal freedom, and political pacifism.

The event was not merely a music festival but a manifestation of a generation’s collective yearning for change, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose among attendees.

As concert promoter Michael Lang described, the experience was life-changing, transforming strangers into a "huge extended family" bound by common values and resilience in the face of adversity.
The iconic performance of Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" on the final morning of the festival became a defining moment, channeling both the nation’s chaos and its hope, and symbolizing a new consciousness about the possibility of a better world.

The subsequent release of the Academy Award-winning documentary Woodstock in 1970 amplified its legacy, turning it into a cultural icon that influenced future generations and helped legitimize youth culture as a driving force in social and commercial life.

While some critics dismissed it as disorganized or morally irresponsible, the event’s enduring impact is evident in its lasting influence on movements for environmentalism, social justice, and grassroots activism.

As one observer noted, the spirit of Woodstock continues to resonate in modern political milestones, such as the election of the first African-American president, which some have referred to as a "Woodstock moment".

Thus, Woodstock stands as a defining moment of cultural awakening, representing a pivotal handoff between generations and a profound assertion of the power of collective hope and change.

Revival

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharistic_congress

2:00 The First Great Awakening

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Great_Awakening

Georgia was an experimental penal colony.

AI OVERVIEW:

The Province of Georgia, founded by James Oglethorpe in 1732, was intended as a philanthropic "buffer colony" and haven for England's debtors and "worthy poor," allowing them to work off debts and find a fresh start, unlike typical penal colonies, with an initial ban on slavery and large land grants to create yeoman farmers. However, this vision failed; the colony struggled, slavery was legalized by 1751, and Georgia quickly developed into a plantation economy, but the initial concept was a unique attempt at a rehabilitative society rather than just a prison settlement.

Key Aspects of the Georgia Experiment:
Founder's Vision: James Oglethorpe, inspired by prison reform efforts, wanted to create a colony for debtors and the poor, offering rehabilitation through work and land ownership.

"Buffer" Colony: Strategically, Georgia was also meant to protect the Carolinas from Spanish Florida.
Initial Restrictions: The charter banned slavery and large land holdings, favoring small farms and a society of sturdy farmers.

Failure of the Vision: The restrictive rules, including the slavery ban, led to economic hardship and discontent, with the colony soon becoming reliant on slave labor.

Shift to Royal Colony: The Trustees eventually surrendered their charter, and Georgia became a royal colony in 1752, fully embracing the plantation system and slavery, which was legalized in 1751.
In essence, Georgia was planned with penal reform in mind but quickly transformed, failing to become the idealistic debtor's colony Oglethorpe envisioned, though it remains a distinct chapter in colonial history.

3:00 Solomon Stoddard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Stoddard

4:00 The Halfway Covenant lowered standards of religiosity to keep bums on pews.

5:00 The Reformation

Sola Gratia

AI OVERVIEW:

Sola gratia (Latin for "grace alone") is a core Protestant principle from the Reformation, meaning salvation is a free gift from God, unearned by human works, merit, or effort, received solely through God's unmerited favor (grace) and Christ's sacrifice, emphasizing that God initiates and completes salvation. It's one of the "Five Solas", (Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, Soli Deo Gloria) and highlights salvation as entirely God's work, not a human achievement, though different traditions interpret the human role in responding to that grace.

Key aspects of Sola Gratia
Unmerited favor: God saves people not because they are good or deserve it, but out of His own love and mercy.

God's work alone: Salvation is accomplished entirely by God, from beginning to end, with no contribution from sinful humanity.

Contrast to earning: It rejects the idea that people can earn salvation through good deeds or religious rituals.

Connection to other Solas: It's intrinsically linked to Sola Fide (faith alone) and Solus Christus (Christ alone), as faith in Christ is the means by which God's grace is received.

Biblical basis: Key verses include Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast".

Different perspectives
Reformed/Lutheran: Strong emphasis on God's sovereignty in salvation (monergism).

Arminian (e.g., Methodist): Believe God gives "prevenient grace" to enable everyone to respond in faith, but salvation is still by grace alone, not human merit.

Prevenient Grace

Prevenient grace is a Christian theological concept for God's grace that comes before conversion, universally given to all people to counteract the effects of sin, enabling them to respond freely to God's call to salvation, but not forcing them. It's often called "enabling grace" or "preventing grace," allowing individuals to overcome total depravity enough to make a choice for faith, a key doctrine in Wesleyan-Arminian traditions that contrasts with Calvinist "irresistible grace".
Key aspects of prevenient grace:
Universal: God extends this grace to everyone, not just the elect.
Enabling: It restores a degree of free will, making a response to God possible, though not guaranteed.
Precedes conversion: It's the initial work of the Holy Spirit that prepares the heart to hear and receive the gospel.
Resistible: Unlike saving grace, it can be rejected by human free will.
Biblical basis: Often linked to John 1:9 ("true light that gives light to everyone") and John 12:32 ("draw all people to myself").
In different traditions:
Wesleyan-Arminianism: A cornerstone, allowing for genuine free will in salvation.
Catholicism: A similar idea exists, with Augustine developing the concept, and it's part of Catholic theology.
Eastern Orthodoxy: Also holds a similar concept.
Reformed/Calvinism: While affirming God's initiative (common grace), the doctrine of irresistible grace offers a different explanation for how God overcomes depravity.

6:00 Confession

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter

10:00 Sigmund Freud

11:00 Pseudo-confessionals

12:00 "The Great Awakening was about the lack of confessionals."

Anti-Catholic laws

13:00 The Seal of the Confessional

14:00 Restitution

Usury

15:00 Teshuvah and Kapparot

https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-teshuvah-2076801

Holy Rollers

16:00 Woodstock

17:00 Dionysian festival, The Bacchae, Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, Berlin Love Festival

Shriners

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners

19:00 A E Housman

https://bookpeopleblog.com/2011/04/12/poem-of-the-day-terence-this-is-stupid-stuff-by-a-e-housman/

20:00 Christians going on a pilgrimage

The Canterbury Tales

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales

22:00 Catholics were not part of the Great Awakening.

Catholics did not join the Protestant-dominated Great Awakening; it was primarily a revival within Protestant denominations (Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian), emphasizing personal, emotional faith, which stood apart from and often clashed with the hierarchical Catholic Church and its existing European renewal movements, though the Awakening's focus on personal piety influenced broader religious thought.
Key Points:
Protestant Movement: The Great Awakening was a movement among Protestants in the British colonies, focusing on evangelicalism, individual conversion, and a direct relationship with God, challenging established churches.
Catholic Context: The Catholic Church had its own renewal, the Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation), centuries earlier, with its own distinct doctrines and structure.
Religious Divide: The Awakening intensified religious divides; it was a Protestant phenomenon that generally excluded Catholics, who faced significant anti-Catholic sentiment in the colonies.
Focus on Personal Faith: While Catholics valued personal devotion, the Awakening's democratic, emotional approach to faith contrasted with Catholic traditions, though some individual Catholics might have found aspects appealing, they weren't part of the movement itself.
In essence, the Great Awakening was a major Protestant revival that reshaped American Protestantism, while Catholicism remained a distinct, often marginalized, religious group in the colonies at that time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_devotions_to_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary

23:00 Walking with a Bible and a Gun

https://www.fidelitypress.org/book-products/walking-with-a-bible-and-a-gun

24:00 King Charles praying with the Pope

Methodism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodism

26:00 Jonathan Edwards's sermon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Angry_God

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Angry_God

27:00 Enclosures, vagabonds, highwaymen and vagrancy

28:00 The modified Methodist

Indiana and Jesuits

29:00 Freemasonry in South America

Simon Bolivar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvar

31:00 The Mission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mission_(1986_film)

32:00 Voltaire mocked the Jesuits in Candide.

Portuguese Freemason

35:00 Barren Metal by EMJ

36:00 Hispaniola and the Haitian Revolution

37:00 The Founding Fathers described as Satan

Paradise Lost by John Milton

38:00 Troilus and Cressida

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Cressida

Timon of Athens

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timon_of_Athens

In Act 4, Scene 1, after abandoning Athens and retreating to the woods, a misanthropic Timon delivers a furious soliloquy cursing the city. He desires the utter breakdown of all social structures and morality.
The key lines related to "degree" are:
"Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,
Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries,
And let confusion live!"
Timon is calling for the destruction of all social hierarchies ("degrees") and laws that govern human interaction, wishing for total chaos and the collapse of civilization as he knows it.
Later, in Act 5, Scene 1, when addressing the Senators who come to find him, he uses "degree" again when telling them about his tree where men can hang themselves:
"Tell Athens, in the sequence of degree,
From high to low throughout, that whoso please
To stop affliction, let him take his haste,
Come hither, ere my tree hath felt the axe,
And hang himself."
Here, "degree" refers to the social ranks of the people of Athens, from the highest to the lowest. Timon is so embittered that his only gift to the city is a place for everyone, regardless of their social standing, to end their lives.

39:00 Mortgage

40:00 The hijackers got hijacked, the bandits got robbed by the bankers.

Might makes right.

41:00 William of Ockham

42:00 http://www.scandalon.co.uk/philosophy/cosmological_radio.htm

43:00 Libido Dominandi by EMJ

44:00 Categories of the mind

Aquinas

God created evil.

https://biblehub.com/isaiah/45-7.htm

45:00 Animal trainers

46:00 Fall of Man