Jonathan Edwards

1. Jonathan Edwards 1703 - 1758

2. Born in Connecticut • The only son in a family of 11 children • Was educated • At a young age proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew • Studied religion • Concerned about his own salvation and state of grace

3. Attended Yale at 13 • Gifted in math, philosophy, astronomy • Interested in John Locke • Knowledge comes from experience – understanding and feeling different • Edwards – reading fire and being burned

4. Married Sarah Pierrepont • They had 11 children • Launched a career in ministry • Father and grandfather were Puritan ministers

5. Became pastor at a church in Northampton, Massachusetts after his grandfather’s death • There for 24 years • Developed a reputation as a powerful preacher • Sermons were about sin and salvation

6. Was part of the Great Awakening • Began in Northampton in 1730’s • Reviving Puritan ideals • People denouncing their sins and dedicating themselves to God – born again to be saved • Conversions – very emotional

7. Sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” • Delivered in Enfield, Connecticut, 1741 • Trying to “awaken” natural men who had not been “born again” • Encouraged listeners to reexamine beliefs about grace, salvation, and religion • Listeners actually swooned and shrieked

8. Eventually dismissed from his congregation in 1750 • Would call out well-known church members by name as sinners • Tried to limit membership to people who had undergone religious conversion or who had been “born again”

9. Moved to remote setting of Stockbridge • Ministered to Indians for 8 years • Accepted an appointment as president of what is now Princeton University • Died of small pox after receiving vaccination