Question

Old Lights and New Lights preachers both followed Protestantism. How did the two differ? Old Lights preachers believed religion should be practiced in a rational way while New Lights preachers propagated emotion in religion. Old Lights preachers believed in salvation through God’s grace while New Lights preachers believed in salvation through charity. Old Lights preachers restricted membership to their churches while New Lights preachers welcomed all into their churches. Old Lights preachers attempted to rationalize the dictates of the Church of England while New Lights preachers tried to revive Puritanism. Old Lights preachers encouraged looking at religion through science while New Lights preachers separated science from religion.

Answer 1

Old Light preachers believed in observing religion through a more rational and traditional way, whereas the New Light preachers wanted to practice religion through more emotion and a sense of revival from disinterest in past religious teaching. The New Light is part of the Great Awakening, by which some of the American colonists in the 18th century restructured the way religious services were taught and practiced in a more progressive manner that differed from traditional, less emotional ways that lost interest in Christians