Christian History Home > Issue 8 > The Puritans and Edwards
The Puritans and Edwards
The American Vision of a Covenant People
HARRY S. STOUT Harry S. Stout is associate professor of history at the University of Connecticut. He has written extensively on Puritanism and the Great Awakening. This article is adapted from an address given at the conference "Jonathan Edwards and the Amencan Expenence," held at Wheaton College, October 1984 | posted 10/01/1985 12:00AM
Questions about the spiritual meaning of America have become especially vital and engaged. In the presidential election of 1984, for example, both major party candidates professed a faith in Christianity and acknowledged the Christian sources of American history. Like their predecessors in high political office, they routinely invoked God’s blessing on America and spoke of American history as that of a “redeemer nation.”
While twentieth-century identifications of America with the “Promised Land” are common, the historical sources of this identity are less clear. Great evangelical leaders of our past are rightly celebrated for their fervent gospel preaching, but their views on America are generally ignored.
This is especially true of Jonathan Edwards, America’s foremost theologian and champion of religious revival. Most studies of Edwards focus on his evangelical preaching. But, Edwards also had a good deal to say about his native New England as a “covenant people” and a “New Israel.” In ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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