Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Jonathan Edwards was one of America’s most accomplished intellectuals and theologians. Born in what is today South Windsor, Edwards became a leader of New England’s first Great Awakening. His 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” first heard by throngs of believers in Enfield, is considered one of the most famous and influential ever delivered in the United States. After 25 years of serving as a minister in Northampton, Massachusetts, Edwards served at a Native American mission in Stockbridge where he wrote some of his most influential works promoting the Puritan vision of Calvinist orthodoxy. In 1757 he accepted an appointment as president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) but died the following year from complications brought on by a smallpox inoculation. His widely circulated works influenced subsequent generations of reformers, including abolitionists of the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Connecticut Origins Shape New Light Luminary Jonathan Edwards
One of the most significant religious figures in US history, this theologian, philosopher, pastor, revivalist, educator, and missionary spent his formative years in Connecticut. …[more]
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Websites
Yale University. “The Jonathan Edwards Center,” 2012. Link.
Documents
Yale University. “Finding Aid to the Jonathan Edwards Collection,” 2012. Link.
Books
Winslow, Ola Elizabeth. Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758; a Biography. New York, NY: Macmillan Company, 1940.
Marsden, George M. Jonathan Edwards: A Life. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003.
Edwards, Jonathan. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian Board of Publication, n.d. Link.
Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.
Edwards, Jonathan, and Samuel Hopkins. The Life and Character of the Late Reverend, Learned, and Pious Mr. Jonathan Edwards, President of the College of New Jersey. Northampton, MA: Andrew Wright, for S. & E. Butler, 1804. Link.