Question

questions 18 through 20 refer to the following.
the laity church members... saw to it that the second great awakening exerted much of
its influence through purposeful voluntary associations, typically headed by boards of
directors on which laypersons appeared prominently...
\contemporaries called the interlocking, interdenominational directorates of these
organizations the evangelical united front or the benevolent empire....
the social reforms embraced by the evangelical united front characteristically involved
creating some form of personal discipline serving a goal or redemption. prison reform
erves as an example. no longer would the prison be intended only as a place to hold
persons awaiting trial, coerce debt payment, or inflict retributive justice. reformers
reconceived the prison as a corrective function, as a penitentiary orreformatory, in the
vocabulary they invented. besides prisoners, other people who did not function as free moral
agents might become objects of the reformers concern: alcoholics, children, slaves, the
insane. the goal of the reformers in each case was to substitute for external constraints the
inner discipline of morality. some historians have interpreted the religious reformers as
motivated simply by an impulse to imposesocial control, but it seems more accurate to
describe them concern as redemptive, and more specifically the creation of responsible
personal autonomy. liberation and control represented two sides of the redemptive process
as they construed it. christians who had achieved self-liberation and self-control through
conversion not surprisingly often turned to a concern with the liberation and discipline of
others.
20 mark for review
which of the following describes a piece of evidence used by howe to support his overall
argument about the motivations of religious reformers?
a they believed that they should focus their efforts only on the united
states.
b they sought to compete with other churches for religious converts.
c they viewed reform mainly as a means of social control.
d they desired to teach people personal autonomy

Explanation:

The text discusses religious reformers. The question asks about their motivations. Option D aligns with the text's mention of personal autonomy (e.g., "personal autonomy Liberation and control", "reconcern as redemption", and the focus on personal discipline like "inner discipline of morality"). Options A, B, and C do not match the text's emphasis on personal - related aspects over just social control (C), competition (B), or sole focus on the United States (A).

Answer:

D. They desired to teach people personal autonomy.