What is the stage and background where we meet Jonathan Edwards?
On October 5, 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut, Jonathan is born, two years after Yale College is established . He was born into a house full of girls. He had ten sisters and no brothers. It is surprising to find that all his sisters were at least six feet tall! He doesn’t escape having embarrassing and troubling relatives. Jonathan’s father’s mother was an adulteress who gave birth to another man’s child. She was finally divorced by his grandfather but that did not erase the wounds that her rage and threats of violence caused the family. Edwards receives extensive theological training from his father during his early years and could read Latin by the age of six and Greek and Hebrew by the age twelve. In 1712, Jonathan experiences a spiritual awakening at East Windsor, and he builds a prayer booth in the swamp. Jonathan would later by his own con viction and observation comment that he was not truly converted or saved at that point. He commented strongly about this part of his life sa
