Edwards lived in an era of dramatic social and intellectual change. Technological advances in manufacturing changed social life, especially in England. Enlightenment thought was beginning to influence the theology of America, emphasizing reason and slighting the traditional Christian view of man’s nature. Deism was popular among intellectuals in Europe and America, and some thinkers were ready to dispense with the supernatural altogether. However, working within a framework of biblical faith, Edwards did not reach the conclusion—as many persons did—that man’s reason would lead him to do the good.
Edwards worked creatively within the Calvinist tradition, believing that a return to orthodoxy would result in a great revival in America. Faced on the one hand with the rising tide of rationalism and on the other hand with religious revivals that often dispensed with reason altogether, Edwards tried to steer a middle course and maintain a balance of reason and emotion, head and heart in the Christian life.
Jonathan Edwards
1703 Jonathan Edwards born in East Windsor, Connecticut
1716 Admitted to Yale
1720 Graduates from Yale and studies there for the ministry
1722 Serves as pastor of a New York Presbyterian church for eight months
1724 Elected a tutor at Yale
1726 Called to Northampton church as assistant minister to grandfather Solomon Stoddard.
1727 Marriage to Sarah Pierrepont
1729 Death of Solomon Stoddard
1731 Delivers Public Lecture at First Church, Boston
1734 Beginning of Great Awakening in Northampton
1740 Whitefield briefly joins Edwards in revival preaching
1741 Preaches sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” at Enfield
1742 Writes Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion
1746 Writes A Treatise Concerning Religious ...

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