ABSTRACT
Perhaps the central figure in the revivals in the first half of the 1740s was George Whitefield (1714-1770). Drawn into the circle of the Wesleys at Oxford, he was ordained in 1735 and made tours of the American colonies in 1737, 1739-41, 1744-8 and on the less dramatic occasions later, up to his death in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1770. His significance for the Great Awakening, amply revealed in his journal, was fourfold. He illustrated that the American revivals were part of a transatlantic world of evangelicalism; the effect of his preaching underlined the emotional responsiveness at the heart of religious renewal; in pursuit of 'new birth' amongst sinners he showed disregard for denominational boundaries; he symbolically marginalized the institutional structure of the churches by frequently and successfully preaching out of doors.
