First was the gradual, Great Awakening–fueled shift I already mentioned from powerless predestination toward the agency of saving oneself via grace. Second, although early Puritans thought they had to wait for Judgment Day, following generations viewed the rewards they had since received—a new nation and unimaginable prosperity and comfort—as evidence that God wanted humans to help him bring about the end of the world. The third part of this theological turnaround resulted from a contemporary shift in prophecy interpretation.
