Jonathan Edwards

1
Jonathan Edwards

• 1703-1758

2
Beginnings

• Born in East Windsor, Connecticut to a devoutly
  Puritan family.
• As a boy, he preached sermons to his friends from
  a makeshift pulpit he built behind his home.
• Learned to speak Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his
  12th birthday.
• Wrote many philosophical and scientific essays as
  a young boy.

3
Education

• Entered Yale at 13 and graduated 4 years later as
  the valedictorian.
• Went on to earn a Masters degree in theology.

4
The Rise

• Edwards became pastor of the Congregational
  Church in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1729,
  after his grandfather, Soloman Stoddard, died.
  Edwards had been assisting his grandfather for
  two years.
• Became one of the leaders of the Great Awakening,
  a religious revival that swept the colonies in
  the 1730s and 1740s.

5
And Fall

• Edwards was dismissed from his position as Pastor
  in Northampton in 1750 after members of his
  church grew displeased with his extreme
  conservative beliefs and calling out of church
  members.
• Moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts and preached
  to the Native Americans.

6
New beginning and the end

• Became president of the college of New Jersey
  (now Princeton University) in 1757, but died
  shortly after taking office of a small pox
  innoculation.

7
Works

• Edwards was known for his powerful sermons. Most
  of his works appealed to reason and logic, except
  Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which is
  highly emotional.
• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was
  delivered in 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut.
• The sermon was said to have caused listeners to
  rise up in fits of hysteria.