Abstract: This chapter focuses on the disruptive religious revivals of the 1740s and 1750s, known as the First Great Awakening. It explores how the impressive mobility and astonishing popularity of itinerant ministers gave new meaning to the right of private judgment. It also documents the rash of revival-inspired church separations, which broadened the range of religious alternatives and undermined traditional religious authority. The travails of a humble minister named Ebenezer Parkman dramatize the sometimes painful consequences of religious diversity, as well as its liberating possibilities.

Keywords: revivals, First Great Awakening, itinerant ministers, mobility, private judgment, church separations, religious diversity, religious authority,