The Mass Media and the Great Evangelist - Research Paper Example

The Mass Media and the Great Evangelist Introduction When a reporter of New York Herald mounted aboard the steamship on August 14, 1875, with the mission of “penning a picture of the great exhorter” (Evensen 2002, 165) after his stunning achievement in the British restoration, he found Dwight L. Moody ‘dispassionate’ in responding to delicate questions about his health or journey. Moody stressed that God is the story, not him. When the reporter, hence reprimanded, asked Moody about his next destination, Moody was ‘extremely pleased’ to respond (Evensen 2002). A lengthy conversation took place, with Moody claiming that he was not ‘a revivalist’ who guided ‘revivals,’ in spite what journalists was now asserting. As stated by Moody, “The Holy Ghost alone had the power to revive and it was very erroneous to report otherwise” (Evensen 2003, 50). Moody reached Northfield, Massachusetts two days later, to the news about the death of Charles Finney (George 2005). The 82-year-old former head of Oberlin College was eulogized by the New York Times as “the Moody of his day” (George 2005, 57) due to the “great revivals that followed his efforts” (p. 57). Finney, as the breathing connection between the Great Awakening of George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, was an intermediary icon in the increasing nineteenth-century dependence on man-made methods to religiously enliven the indolent (Findlay 2007). Where Whitefield and Edwards and their colleagues would have anticipated God’s guidance in stimulating the inactive bones of various parishioners, Finney lectured the proper exercise of ‘all available means’ in conveying people to contrition (Findlay 2007). For Moody that implied adopting the marketing and sense of organization of a businessman to tolerate spectators of Gilded Age who otherwise may be indifferent to the gospel. That method, the earliest proof during the 1873 Great British Revival, made fortunate exploitation of the mass media in advancing citywide movements and civic demonstrations that socially promoted his objectives in evangelism (George 2005). The media hype that Moody so diligently pursued for God’s mission helped change a former merchant with minor schooling into God’s worker for the Gilded Age. In trying to introduce people to “the work of the spirit in bringing revival,” (Evensen 2003, 167) Moody also drew media attention to himself, turning into a famous minister, possibly the nation’s first, but definitely not its very last (Evensen 2003). This essay will analyze the mass-mediated revival methods of Moody and the outcomes that emanated from it. Moody’s belief that the instrument of mass media could be employed in the service of God’s mission makes him a major issue for journalism historian. This analysis of the connections of mass evangelism and media presents a new domain of scholarship for historians who have only just started exploring the social and cultural importance of spiritual reporting in the media. The surprising fame of Moody situated him at the heart of the Gilded Age’s media hub and expects the inclination of the twentieth century to rely on human action in exposing what Moody would have understood as the transcending of the spirit (George 2005). Moody viewed worried inquirers and large crowds as a blessed congregation and a definite sign of God’s support for his work. The secular media would interpret Moody’s triumph in a different way, attributing to his rules of influence the myriads of those willing to be in his company (Findlay 2007). The anticipation could hardly have been predicted by anyone who were aware of the mostly unknown layman as he engaged in his sincere task “to win ten thousand British souls for Christ” (Hutson 2000, 90). In New York, Moody was given a celebrity status by reporters who forced their way to document the arrival of the great man, to quote his countless sayings, and to endorse his stories of past victories and preparations for future voyages (Findlay 2007). Media accounts of the nine-day journey of Moody from Liverpool started with reports of “a royal procession” (Evensen 2003, 96) to the medium that would transport Ira Sankey and Moody to the Spain for their journey to the United States. Devotees were required to get a ticket to grace the presence of Moody. “The sorrow felt by thousands of supporters who were at the dock to see Moody’s departure ‘became too oppressive for suppression’” (p. 97). The construction of an artist of the leaving steamship was printed alongside reports of the famous evangelist (Evensen 2003). The New York reporters expected his coming by publicizing Moody was going back to the United States as impoverished as when he had abandoned it, having donated a sizeable amount of money in contributions from the communities and churches where he had collected them (Findlay 2007). The newspapers of Philadelphia were already expecting that the evangelizing celebrity was headed their way next. The reporters’ vessel got to Moody before the Spain arrived at her dock in the North River. He informed the press people that he was not aware of the number of people he converted in Britain and had no idea of his next destination (George 2005). He wanted to rest while he took into account a substantial number of requests to sermon in the great cities of America (George 2005). While the New York Herald was rashly exposing that a restoration of religion would follow the attempts of Moody, the media pursued the mystery of Moody’s triumph (Evensen 2002). The British detractors of Moody had emphasized that where ‘arousing preachers’ (p. 165) of other periods had to be satisfied with indifference where they did not meet reproach the network of Moody and his colleagues in Britain had looked like a victorious parade. Even though the strongly-built and fast-talking ex-boot hawker seemed quite like other men, reporters in place after place were restricted to acknowledge that there was no equivalent in Britain’s religious history to what Moody had accomplished. Moody firmly believed that persuading people to anticipate a blessing of extraordinary enormity helped to build a sense of anticipation among the people (Evensen 2002). Moody exerted too much effort to build that environment by mobilizing the churches and promoting his message. He answered his critics, “It seems to me a good deal better to advertise and have a full house than to preach to empty pews” (Evensen 2003, 25). He claimed that churches and parishes could learn about selling from the world. “They advertise very extensively. This is the age of advertisement, and you have to take your chance” (p. 25). He did not reflect on it “beneath a man’s dignity to go out and ask people to come in” (Evensen 2003, 25). This implied leading his movement in Britain and those that abided by with a placard, handbill, and news advertising crusade. Those who condemned his selling the gospel in this manner had to appreciate the reality of contemporary life (Evensen 2003). America has radically transformed from being a city on a hill. Its religious service and sanctified institutions contended against places of entertainment for the time and attention of the people (George 2005). And the mass media were one of the main sites where the battle lines were drawn. As stated by Stanley Gundry, “Moody was an innovator” (George 2005, 84) due to the rigorous arrangements he demanded prior, during, and after his conventions. Revivalism was Moody’s mission and he embarked on it with the misunderstanding of an account head. Horace Greeley, publisher and editor of the New York Tribune, viewed him as ‘earnest and sincere’(George 2005, 84) in a time when such people are uncommon. He could merely wish that the influence of Moody “will be permanent on the community” (George 2005, 84). A disbeliever of religious matters, Thurlow Weed, would financially assist the evangelistic movement of Moody in New York in 1876 (Findlay 2007). The experienced publisher and editor was mildly rebuked by the famous evangelists for “remaining outside the Ark that God has provided for you and all the rest of us” (Evensen 2002, 166). New York Times’ business manager, George Jones, argued that “whatever skeptics may say,” (Evensen 2003, 120) the mission of Moody in support of “private and public morals will live” (p. 120). The common sense strategy of Moody in evangelism made the influential and wealthy converts to his movement. J. Pierpont Morgan would organize monetary bargains for the Hippodrome campaign of Moody and Sam Wanamaker, newspaper publisher and department store mogul, would carry out the same task in Philadelphia (Evensen 2002). A well-known Scottish cleric Henry Drummond, who had seriously helped the work of Moody in Britain, believed the evangelist acquainted to no associates as an organizer (Evensen 2002). Another editor argued that “he knew how to listen to as well as lead the men who gathered to help him” (Evensen 2003, 27). One estranged preacher grumbled, “There is no proportion between Moody’s abilities as a pulpit speaker and his results,” (p. 27) while admitting that his abilities as publicist and coordinator were unmatched. Moody noticed in the middle of his British movement, “Every means is good that works to good” (Evensen 2003, 40). “The progress of the work depends upon the state of mind manifested by God’s people” (p. 40). In general, it is a proclamation of special assemblies aimed to restore the church of God or bring strangers to it. The restoration assemblies of Moody had their precursor in the mid-eighteenth century Great Awakening. Intended both to encourage converts and to rejuvenate the spirit of devotees, the initial services endorsed piousness through prayer and fasting (Findlay 2007). Restoration arrived through vigilant waiting to receive God’s word. Even though the movement of conversion stories certainly nourished the public interest with religious themes, the triumph of the Great Awakening was viewed as a sincere God’s work in which human attempt was mostly minor (George 2005). Apparently the church and its affiliated power gained, but it was the grace of God, not the work of the minister, that generated outcomes, and religious organizers such as Jonathan Edwards revered God’s work (George 2005). The nomadic evangelism of George Whitefield expected the early nineteenth-century transition to a proficient group of revivalists (Findlay 2007). Whitefield criticized any proposition that people could make a restoration, yet he was not beyond seeking financial supports for his missionary task and educating pastors how to carry out their appropriate part in drawing the attention of others in ‘experimental’ spirituality (Findlay 2007). Whitefield linked with John Wesley in converting Georgia’s new colony; their task in preparing meetings and announcing them expected the movement of Methodists in the early nineteenth-century in ‘cooperating with God’ to prompt communal and individual rejuvenation (George 2005). Colonial exposure aided Whitefield in becoming God’s representative. Similarly, D.L. Moody left his growing boot and shoe business to enter evangelistic service in Chicago. He sustained his belief that God had distinctively granted work for every individual and his duty was to accomplish it (George 2005). That originally made for uncomfortable interactions with reporters. His inclination to break into newspaper headquarters, demanding they publicize his mission among the poor and orphans of the city gained him the nickname ‘Crazy Moody’ (Evensen 2002). Accounts of Moody’s triumph in the England were extensively circulated prior to his Scottish crusade, with the mass media now exposing that a number of cleric from the Established Church were linking with their evangelical peers in persuading their parishioners to take part in Moody’s congregations (George 2005). Advertisements, approved by empathic pastors, guaranteed “a blessing of unusual magnitude” (Evensen 2002, 165) for those taking part. This implied that occupied pews and capacity crowds may be put in order before the arrival of Moody. A professor of apologetics at Edinburgh’s New College, William Blaikie, shared the Moody’s zeal for publicity and prayer. He advertized Moody to evangelical followers through his extensively disseminated Sunday Magazine, while assisting Moody’s interaction with the media and local clergy (Evensen 2003). Moody’s belief of the spectacular produced wide coverage all over Scotland. The media reported the Scottish tour of Moody as “a spreading fire, an unusual day of the Lord’s power” (Evensen 2003, 32). Parishes dispatched extensively publicized requests imploring Moody to visit their cities. The coordinating committee of Moody started working the main cities of Scotland door to door and lane by lane, encouraging participation in Moody’s congregations (Findlay 2007). Press people became quarry of the democratic thrust of Moody’s congregations. The following of Moody now comprised a personal assistant to respond to fan mails he was receiving. All of his activities made good reading (Evensen 2002). The pre-crusade planning team of Moody now ruled the cooperation and esteem of clergy from Ecumenical Unionists and the Church of England (Findlay 2007). They obviously positioned themselves behind Moody before a live audience, and he persuaded worried inquirers and converts to connect with their churches. As a foreign layman he may and did defy attempts by the press people to implicate him into conflict (Findlay 2007). He informed them that he had cannot do anything more with the conflict between the Free and Established churches than he did the “laws of China” (Evensen 2003, 34). He notified the press people that he was only traversing Britain, and that he “had never been embroiled in a newspaper controversy and didn’t want to start now” (p. 34). Thousands of Christian workers and clerics convened on February 1875, at the Freemason Hall of London to prepare the assemblies of Moody in that metropolis, the crown in his British crusade. At this time such meetings became tales, as well (Evensen 2003). Among those who attended were famous Christian people of wealth who could be anticipated to finance the bulk of the cost of converting London and encouraging million of its people apathetic to public devotion to save God’s knowledge (George 2005). The city was partitioned into stations with a handbill crusade intended to get in touch with every street, boulevard and square of the city and its communities. The metropolis was investigated by unpaid helpers who left booklets made by Moody, encouraging the worried to join the citywide campaign (Evensen 2003). Group members maintained records of all contacts and submitted them to overseers. The outcome was, in the expression of Moody, “the most gigantic religious undertaking of its kind in the world” (Evensen 2003, 42). The mechanism of mass evangelism that Moody introduced to Britain undoubtedly positioned its leader at the core of the civic demonstration. ‘Pulpit pictures’ appeared in newspapers and other media summarizing his “history, character, the secret of his power, and the nature of his influence” (Evensen 2003, 42). The crusade in London was broadly viewed as a genius of organizational ability and care. Conclusions Dwight L. Moody would always connect the influence of media hype to the supremacy of prayer, confirming he could not do anything through preparation if the Supreme Being did not approve. As he stated in a lot of occasions, “The only work that is going to stand for eternity is the work done by the Holy Ghost, and not by any one of us” (George 2005, 122). He viewed himself as a device in the hands of God. He acted in affiliation with the intentions of the Lord. Outcomes would verify if the mission was approved by God or not. But his crusade in Great Britain had shown very clearly that the intentions of God and individual plans when united to the machinery of mass media may build circumstances that allow entire parishes in on a public show more vibrant and lively than anyone had ever witnessed. The generation of revivalists after Moody could keep on asserting that enlivening a sleeping soul was the task of God and not of the people, but after Moody they may not argue any more that contemporary campaign work needed administration and mass media and numerous of it to draw the attention of apathetic communities. Moody is aware that slumbering souls cheer up when God appeared on the headlines. Works Cited Evensen, Bruce. God's Man for the Gilded Age: D.L. Moody and the Rise of Modern Mass Evangelism . New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. —. "'Saucepan Journalism' in an Age of Indiffirence: Moody, Beecher, and Brooklyn's Gilded Press." Journalism History (2002): 165+. Findlay, James. Dwight Moody: American Evangelist, 1837-1899. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2007. George, Timothy. Mr. Moody and the Evangelical Tradition. T & T Clark Publishers, 2005. Hutson, Curtis. Great Preaching on Soul Winning. Sword of the Lord, 2000. Read More