randfather, the infamous revivalist pastor Solomon Stoddard. He had assisted him as a pastoral assistant upon exiting Yale University and when his grandfather died, inherited his pulpit.
Edwards served as pastor in the Massachusetts area during the period of the 'Great Awakening'. The 'Great Awakening' was a period in American history when a tremendous spiritual revival and awakening began. This 'Awakening' arrived under the preaching influence of early American pastors like George Whitefield and William Tennant. The 'Awakening' revival continued during the decade from 1734-1744. It was characterized by mass conversions. It is estimated that during this decade the church in New England alone added approximately fifty thousand converts to their congregations.
Jonathan Edwards is best known for a single sermon he preached entitled, 'Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God'. Accounts from the night it was given relate that during the sermon, 'strong men fell as though shot and women became hysterical'. An excerpt from that sermon states:
There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of!
(www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm)
Jonathan Edwards lived during a historical time. The Calvinistic Puritanism of the New England American colonies was being influenced greatly by the more humanistic centered themes of thought coming from Europe, particularly Franc...