The Third Awakening

From National Review Online (by way of Dan Froomkin), regarding a private talk between Bush and conservative journalists on Tuesday: The President mentioned that he is struck by the number of people he meets who tell him they are praying for him. He jokingly noted, “Now maybe the only people who pray in America come to my events,” but he wonders if there is evidence of a Third Awakening saying, “It feels like it to me.” Not being acquainted with the concept of Awakenings (but having a pretty good idea via context) I did some reading today to find out what they're all about. As you probably guessed, an Awakening is a period of great religious revival and social activism. At first, I was a little confused, as formal resources explained that the Third Awakening took place in the years 1858-1908. And indeed, Bush went on to reference this period, although he speaks of it in terms of the Second Awakening. Bush explained that Lincoln’s strongest supporters were religious people from the Second Awakening “who saw life in terms of good and evil” and who agreed with Lincoln that slavery was evil, and the Union soldiers who Lincoln had “great affection and admiration for.” I don't need to spell out the analogies that are being made here, do I? Some sources go on to talk about a Fourth Awakening, although this is ascribed to both the Roosevelt era, and to the hippie era. In some cases the latter is described as the fifth awakening, and again, this period is noted by Bush. He kept coming back to how cultures change, both in America and overseas. “Cultures do change and ideological struggles are won.” “There was a stark change between the culture of the ‘50’s and the 60’s—boom—and I think there’s change happening here.” The new Awakening (third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, it doesn't really matter) is, of course, being played out against the background of the Iraq War, where leaving would mean "America's defeat and disgrace forever," and of course, the much broader 'Long war'. About the current situation, he added, “A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me.” Many Evangelicals disavow the historical significance of the Second Awakening, and share the president's apparent belief that the Third Awakening has not taken place, or is only beginning to happen now. A summation of this belief can be found here in an piece by National Review senior editor Jeffrey Hart. Hart states that "The present or Third Awakening of Evangelicalism believes all sorts of bizarre things, such as the imminent end of the world, the second coming of Christ, the sudden elevation of the just to heaven and the final struggle of Good versus Evil in Jerusalem: Armageddon." This description is not atypical, as evidenced by the final section of this piece from The Forerunner. Well, what can I say? Tomorrow I'll head back to humor, but today I feel as if I've just seen another ten percent of the iceberg, and I feel a chill. Pleasant dreams, my friends. “It seems to me that there’s a Third Awakening.”