Edwards. Jonathan. Ola Elizabeth Winslow, ed. Jonathan Edwards: Basic Writings. New York: Penguin, 1996.
Publication history: The writings of Jonathan Edwards were published throughout his lifetime. His early juvenile writings were published by the American Antiquarian Society. Many of his sermons were published shortly after he delivered them. In the latter part of his career, his more philosophical works were published. This collection of Edwards= writings was edited by Ola Elizabeth Winslow, a noted historian who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1941 for her biography of Edwards titled AJonathan Edwards: 1703-1758.@
About the Author: Scholars consider Jonathan Edwards America's profoundest 18th century theologian. Born on October 5, 1703 in the Connecticut Valley, Edwards came from a heritage of ministerial vocations. His father Timothy was a minister. On his mother=s side, he was the grandson of Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the most powerful New England clergyman of his day. When his grandfather died in 1729, he took over his congregation. Although young, he had graduated from Yale College at the top of his class in 1720 and earned his M.A. in 1723. Before taking over his grandfather=s pulpit, he had preached at Northampton and in New York City. The Northampton church was Congregational, the direct descendants of the Puritans. Edwards soon became the primary force of the Congregationalist church, and remained so throughout his lifetime. At the age of 23 he married Sarah Pierrepnt. The Great Awakening of the early 1740s marked a critical point in Edwards= life. He engaged in powerful preaching to further this Great Awakening, and one of his most famous sermons, ASinners in the Hands of an Angry God,@ was preached in 1741. Edwards was dismissed from his post as pastor after a disagreement with his congregation. Edwards believed that allowing unconverted people to participate in the Lord=s Supper was ...