e other names under which this particular brand of religion is designated. The religion that is being marketed has its origins in nineteenth century America.
Similarly, the contemporary problems faced by televangelism and televangelists with respect to credibility and public acceptance do not differ in essence from similar problems faced by their predecessors in the 1920s and 1930s. The differences in the problems faced by televangelism in the 1990s and those faced by evangelical, Pentecostal, and Fundamentalist religion in the 1920s and 1930s are, rather, concerned more with financial magnitude than they are with the essence of the issues.
Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Fundamentalist religion in the United States traces back to the Protestant Second Awakening Movement in the early-19th century. The Protestant Second Awakening Movement responded primarily to rural needs in rural settings, such as camp meetings. The Protestant Second Awakening Movement was followed in the mid-19th century by the Protestant City-Revival Movement. Where the Second Awakening Movement was rural based, the City-Revival Movement was urban based. City-Revival Movement meetings were held in huge temporary tents and stadiums, as opposed to outdoor camps. In traditional, or mainline, churches, the preacher is expected primarily to establish a worshipful mood. In such churches, preacher is not expected to draw attention to herself or himself. By contrast, the actions of the preacher in the evangelical, Pentecostal, and Fundamentalist churches, as is true of those in black churches, are expected to constitute a signal event in the process of worship. As was in these early churches, the televangelist is the central figure, by far eclipsing God, in a televangelism worship service.
While the actions of the televangelist preacher are an event in worship, this act draws its essential meaning from the interaction between the preacher and the con...