Kelby Milgrim Ministries
Jonathan Edwards
JONATHAN EDWARDS
Jonathan Edwards, b. East Windsor, Conn., Oct. 5, 1703, d. Mar. 22, 1758, was one
of the most significant religious thinkers in American history. After graduating (1720)
from Yale, he studied theology for almost two more years before entering the
ministry. In 1726 he became assistant pastor to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard,
in Northampton, Mass. Edwards became sole pastor after Stoddard's death (1729)
and discharged his duties there until 1750, when disagreement with the
congregation forced him to leave. Experiences during the GREAT AWAKENING
convinced Edwards that allowing unconverted persons to participate in the Lord's
Supper was wrong. After his congregation voted to dismiss him rather than abandon
this custom, introduced by Stoddard, Edwards became a missionary to Indians at
nearby Stockbridge and wrote four of his most profound theological works. Late in
1757, he was elected president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton
University), but he died within months of his arrival in Princeton.
Edwards's thinking combined two intellectual traditions. He defended standard
doctrinal categories of the Puritan (see PURITANISM) tradition, but he did so by
using contemporary ideas from the British philosophers who helped inaugurate the
ENLIGHTENMENT. Drawing upon John LOCKE, he argued that current psychology
vindicated the doctrine of man's total dependence on God. Since man's mind is
originally a tabula rasa ("blank slate") on which his practical experience records
impressions, and since God controls the destiny of every individual, human
understanding can be considered to be the product of what God determines a
person should experience. Edwards's reading of Isaac Newton also supported
traditional convictions about the supremacy of God and the helplessness of man in
the face of causes that lie beyond human control.
Blending his belief in the mystical nature of God with the logic of his day, Edwards
also upheld the doctrines of original sin, lack of free will, the need for saving grace,
and God's arbitrary choice in granting grace. His most famous works include the
electrifying sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741), A Faithful
Narrative of the Surprising Works of God (1737), and Freedom of the Will (1754).
Henry Warner Bowden
Bibliography: Cherry, C., The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (1990); Daniel, S.,
The Philosophy of Jonathan Edwards (1994); Miller, P., Jonathan Edwards (1949;
repr. 1981); Oberg, B. B., and Stout, H. S., Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards,
and the Representation of American Culture (1993).
Jonathan Edwards, b. East Windsor, Conn., Oct. 5, 1703, d. Mar. 22, 1758, was one
of the most significant religious thinkers in American history. After graduating (1720)
from Yale, he studied theology for almost two more years before entering the
ministry. In 1726 he became assistant pastor to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard,
in Northampton, Mass. Edwards became sole pastor after Stoddard's death (1729)
and discharged his duties there until 1750, when disagreement with the
congregation forced him to leave. Experiences during the GREAT AWAKENING
convinced Edwards that allowing unconverted persons to participate in the Lord's
Supper was wrong. After his congregation voted to dismiss him rather than abandon
this custom, introduced by Stoddard, Edwards became a missionary to Indians at
nearby Stockbridge and wrote four of his most profound theological works. Late in
1757, he was elected president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton
University), but he died within months of his arrival in Princeton.
Edwards's thinking combined two intellectual traditions. He defended standard
doctrinal categories of the Puritan (see PURITANISM) tradition, but he did so by
using contemporary ideas from the British philosophers who helped inaugurate the
ENLIGHTENMENT. Drawing upon John LOCKE, he argued that current psychology
vindicated the doctrine of man's total dependence on God. Since man's mind is
originally a tabula rasa ("blank slate") on which his practical experience records
impressions, and since God controls the destiny of every individual, human
understanding can be considered to be the product of what God determines a
person should experience. Edwards's reading of Isaac Newton also supported
traditional convictions about the supremacy of God and the helplessness of man in
the face of causes that lie beyond human control.
Blending his belief in the mystical nature of God with the logic of his day, Edwards
also upheld the doctrines of original sin, lack of free will, the need for saving grace,
and God's arbitrary choice in granting grace. His most famous works include the
electrifying sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741), A Faithful
Narrative of the Surprising Works of God (1737), and Freedom of the Will (1754).
Henry Warner Bowden
Bibliography: Cherry, C., The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (1990); Daniel, S.,
The Philosophy of Jonathan Edwards (1994); Miller, P., Jonathan Edwards (1949;
repr. 1981); Oberg, B. B., and Stout, H. S., Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards,
and the Representation of American Culture (1993).
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