Blog 11 - The Second Great Awakening and Joseph Smith and the 1st vision

The Second Great Awakening a lecture was quite intriguing. The lecture did really make me think about Joseph Smith and his first vision. I found the most interesting part was when we talked about Joseph Smiths family and what religious denominations they all belonged too. As I recall, Joseph Smiths mother was Presbyterian, his father was a Universalist, and Joseph himself was leaning Methodist. I personally believe that if it wasn’t for all of the sermons and religion in the public sphere that Joseph Smith would have never prayed in the sacred grove and thus would have never had the first vision. I also believe that all of this religion in the public sphere helped spread the words of Joseph Smith. The other thing that I find so amazing is that Mormonism attracted so many members. During the Second Great Awakening there were many new religions getting spread around all over America especially in the burned over district. The burned over district is part of New York where there were lots of the Second Great Awakening was occurring. Joseph Smith jr. and his family lived in the burned over district and took part in many of the sermons that were part of the Second Great Awakening. One thing that I wonder about was how the crowd reactions were during the Mormon sermons. During usual sermons the crowds would do many different reactions. They would fall down, roll on the ground, bark, and dance. However, many historians believe that many of these reactions are exaggerated. These historians believe that for the most part people just fell down and shouting. In class we didn’t really learn about any of the reactions to the Mormon sermons and sense as far as my knowledge goes I think that Mormonism was towards the end of the Second Great Awakening that it wasn’t too extreme. However, I really don’t know and am not sure if anyone knows. With all of these crazy religious happenings in New York I am glad that so many people listened to the words of Joseph Smith and converted to Mormonism. I am also very glad that my ancestors listened to the words of Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders and converted to Mormonism so that I could eventually hear the words of the Mormon religion.