Jonathan Edwards: The Great Awakener

Description

Those who remember Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) only for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” overlook his many and varied contributions to American church history. A man of powerful intellect, Edwards is credited with instigating America’s first Great Awakening. Beginning in 1734, six sudden conversions in his parish turned into a flood of thirty per week, ultimately drawing people from up to a hundred miles away. In addition to preaching, Edwards also wrote several books, including Treatise on Religious Affections, served as a missionary to Native American tribes, and was briefly president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). He died at age fifty-four after receiving a smallpox inoculation.