The Revival of Religion in the Age of Romanticism

In the 18 century Catholicism had lost its attraction for many of the educated elite as even

the European nobility filtered w/the ideas of the Enlightenment.

The restoration of the nobility brought a new appreciation for the Catholic faith as a

force for order in society. This appreciation was greatly reinforced by the Romantic

movement.The attraction of Romantics to the Middle Ages and their emphasis on emotion led

them to their own widespread revival of Christianity.

Catholicism.

Catholicism, in particular, benefited from this Romantic enthusiasm for religion.

Especially among German Romantics, there were many conversions.ne of the most popular expressions of this Romantic revival of Catholicism was

found in the work of Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand.

His defense of Catholicism was based not on historical, theological, or even rational

grounds but largely on Romantic sentiment.

As a faith, Catholicism echoed the harmony of all things. Its cathedrals brought one

into the presence of God.

Protestantism

Protestantism also experienced a revival. That “awakening,” as it was called, had already

begun in the 18

w/the enthusiastic emotional experiences of Methodism in Britain and

Pietism in Germany.

Methodist missionaries carried their message of sin and redemption to liberal

Protestant churches in France and Switzerland, winning converts to their strongly

evangelical message.

Germany, too, witnessed a Protestant awakening as evangelical preachers found that

their messages of hellfire and their methods of emotional conversion evoked a ready

response among people alienated by the highly educated establishment clergy of the

state churches.