Jonathon Edwards 2

Jonathon Edwards – Preacher Essay, Research Paper

Born on October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut Colony,

Jonathon Edwards was a child prodigy. At the age of ten he wrote an

extensive essay regarding the nature of the soul. At 13 he entered the

Collegiate School of Connecticut (now Yale University) and graduated in

1720, as valedictorian of his class. After two additional years of study in

theology at Yale, he preached for eight months in a New York church.

He then returned to Yale as a college tutor, studying at the same time for

his master’s degree. He was ordained in 1727 and received a call to assist

his grandfather Solomon Stoddard. Stoddard was a pastor of the church

at Northampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony, which contained one of the

largest and wealthiest congregations in the entire colony. When Edwards

was 26, the sudden death of his grandfather left him the job of pastor. He

was a firm believer in Calvinism, which represented absolute sovereignty

of God. This conflicted with the tendency toward belief in Arminianism (a

modified form of Calvinism) that existed in the New England colonies. In

1731, in Boston, Edwards preached his first public attack on Arminianism.

Using a sermon entitled “God Glorified Man’s Dependence” he called

for a return to strict Calvinism. Three years later he delivered a series of

powerful sermons on the same subject in his own church. The series

included the famous “Reality of Spiritual Light” in which Edwards

combined Calvinism with mysticism (religious experience directly given

and experienced).

He was a notable pulpit orator. The result of his 1734-35 sermons

was a religious revival in which Edwards received 300 new members into

his church. Some of the converted became so obsessed by his fiery

descriptions of eternal damnation, that several suicides were noted in the

area. In 1740 Edwards teamed up with the British evangelist George

Whitefield. Together, they started a revival movement that became

known as the Great Awakening. This developed into a religious frenzy

that overtook all of New England. During one of Edward’s sermons,

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” his congregation was said to

have risen “weeping and moaning from their seats.”1 By 1742 the

movement had grown heedlessly and for the next 60 to 70 years, had a

major effect on all American religion. In Northampton, Edwards’ sermons

created a demand for harsher religious discipline. However, eventually his

entire congregation turned on him because of his insolence and bigotry.

A council representing ten congregations in the region dismissed him in

1750. The following year he received a call to Stockbridge, Massachusetts

where he became pastor of the village church. During the next seven

years he wrote his most important theological works. In 1757, Edwards

accepted the presidency of the College of New Jersey, which later

became Princeton University. He was inaugurated in 1758, but five weeks

later, on March 22, 1758, he died as the result of the smallpox epidemic.

The literature Edwards created was a type completely new to the

time period. It reflected the traditional religious culture of Calvinism, but

evolved into Edwards’ combination of religious components. His sermons

were characterized by convulsions and hysteria on the part of his

parishioners. He used extreme harshness and appeal to religious fear to

get his point across to his diocese. He delt with the denial that human

beings have self-determined will. Edwards firmly believed that people

could not initiate acts that hadn’t been decreed previously by God. His

views were reflected mostly in essays and sermons. His personal diary was

found emulating personal goals, and failures.

By the mid 18th century, many people considered American

religion to be static. Sermons were seen as instructional rather than

inspirational, and there was a general sense that religion was taken

completely for granted. What was needed were sermons that

represented emotions and emphasized the spiritual side of religion. The

movement that was spurred by the dullness of the church was known as

the Great Awakening. Jonathon Edwards was one of the greatest

leaders of this movement. He was a unique man who added his

interpretation of pure religious truths to American culture. Using his passion

for writing and speaking, he inspired the Great Awakening through his

passioned sermons, strong Calvinistic beliefs, and response to his

preaching.

Edwards is best known for his skills as a preacher. Each of his

sermons was known to have incredible impact on its listeners. One of the

main reasons his lectures caught on so well was that people were vitally

interested in the matter he was speaking about. The Puritans were

growing deeply concerned by what they perceived to be a striking

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