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Okay, sure. The Second...

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Great Awakening was all about taking authority out of the hands....

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of traditional religious leaders and...

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plopping it into the hands of individuals.

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But still, it's kind of hard to have any movement without a leader.

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Right?

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So let's go through a quick rundown...

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of the stars of Great Awakening, Part Deux.

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First up on the roster...

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is Charles Finney, but...

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some called him Chuck Finn,

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and they got smacked.

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Well, Charles Finney was a lawyer turned hardcore revivalist.

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Despite the fact that he had no religious training,

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he ended up being one of the most influential...

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preachers in American history.

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He didn't give a flip about traditional religious...

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establishments. Instead, he learned...

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his "new measures" from other...

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revivalists that establishment ministers looked down upon.

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Like a lot of preachers in this crew,

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Finney assaulted his listeners...

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with emotion-packed messages...

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of sin and forgiveness.

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Rich and poor alike came together to hear Finney tell them they were...

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all horrible sinners.

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He used his fiery camp sermons...

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to bring society's fat cats down to Earth.

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The skinny cats, you know, he just left it in the sky.

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Before every revival,

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he plotted with supports to identify...

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a backsliding, vulnerable, and...

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usually important member of the community.

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Then he invited the target to...

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sit before the congregation...

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on the "anxious bench."

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Yeah, that's actually what they called it: the anxious bench.

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Once he got his victim into the anxious bench,

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Finney skewered the person with...

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facts of their misbehavior until the person cracked and...

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begged for God's mercy.

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We need therapy just thinking about this one.

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While the anxious bench does sound horrifying,

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because it was,

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it actually did have its appeal.

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Remember, before revivalists like Finney, people thought...

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there wasn't a single thing they could do...

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to be saved.

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But a sin confessing experience,

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that let people get everything off their chest...

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and promise salvation,

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was actually relief to some.

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It was like a sauna followed by a...

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polar plunge, but for the soul.

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Alright, let's move on to Joseph Smith,

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a.k.a Mr. Mormon.

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Smith claimed to have discovered a new revelation from...

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God in the woods outside his Palmyra home...

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in Western New York.

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According to Smith, the holy words were etched on...

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golden tablets and interpreted...

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by Smith through the use of what he called a "peek stone."

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Peek stone sounds something like...

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what people get in trouble for while in the dressing rooms.

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But it's not that.

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Smith was so psyched about his...

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revelations that he started writing a book about them.

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Somebody's come to most of our doors...

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with an offer for a free copy of...

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what those writing became, and yes,

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these day's it's called The Book of Mormon.

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Smith preached that all but a very few...

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would find salvation, and that life...

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was a continual process of self-improvement that actually...

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began with preexistence and...

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continued after death.

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It also taught that God was a still-changing being,

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not perfect and static, and that...

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Jesus was only most intelligent child.

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Yo, shaking the boat there, J.S.

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This meant that man and God actually had a...

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lot in common.

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They weren't separated by Calvin's virtually...

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unbridgeable gap,

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and they weren't dependent on God's undeserved mercy for salvation.

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Instead, man could work on himself,

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try to improve, and reasonably aspire...

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to be like God.

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And yes, Joseph Smith also preached the practice of polygamy,

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or having multiple wives.

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The practice caused a lot of debate,

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and even fierce attacks on Mormons throughout...

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the years. Well the Church of Latter Day Saints officially banned...

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polygamy in 1890,

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but it still goes on in select sects today,

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which of course a lot of people still have strong opinions about.

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Probably not that big a deal anymore.

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Last but not least,

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we'll take a lot at the Shakers,

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who were known for their dance parties.

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Did you think we were joking?

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No, really.

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Shakers were given the name because of their unique....

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bodily response to church services.

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So yeah, there's a whole lot of shaking going on.

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Well, theologically Shakers were...

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similar to Quakers.

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They were kind of an off-shoot really.

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They believed in pacifism, simplicity,

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and the importance of community.

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But unlike Quakers, they practiced...

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celibacy.

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This means that none of the shaken' that was...

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going on was going on in the bedroom.

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One of the truly remarkable things about Shakers...

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was that they believed in radical equality.

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They had a ton of female leaders,

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and tried hard to keep gender prejudice out...

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of their communities.

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The church's American founder, Anne Lee was...

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even designated the female...

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incarnation of God.

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Having assumed human form first as a man,

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God now came to Earth as a woman.

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Shakers also believed that the millennium,

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the thousand year period of perfect...

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peace on Earth before the end of time,

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was immanent.

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So Earthly distractions, like marriage....

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just seemed like a waste of time.

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this might have been part of what attracted some women...

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converts who were fed up with the restrictions of...

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marriage in those time.

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Shakers often lived communally, like...

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really community, private property was...

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limited to just a few possessions and...

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the community's work was directed by elders.

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While they tried to make everything they need themselves,

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they sometimes did a little trading with...

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their non-Shaker neighbors.

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In fact, they became famous for their simple,

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well-crafted furniture.

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So if you see a Shaker chair at an antique...

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place, don't think it's gonna give you a massage.

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Yeah, made of wood.

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