Who was Jonathan Edwards, why does he provoke such reactions, and why is he important to us today?
Edwards was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, October 1703. His father, Timothy Edwards, graduated from Harvard and was the village pastor. Like all youngsters of his time, Jonathan was home schooled. Because he showed unusual intelligence, his father enrolled him at Yale at age 13. During graduate school, he had an intense conversion experience that radically altered his life and laid the foundation for all the profound and wonderful fruit that followed. After graduation he married New England s most eligible maiden, 17-year-old Sarah Pierrepont. They had 11 children, and the legacy of their posterity was phenomenal.3 Although several books have been written about their marriage and family life, it was Jonathan s deep grasp of the Bible that links his name with Christianity s greatest thinkers. Jonathan soon moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, to become the assistant pastor to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. A few years later Stoddard died and Jonathan became senior pastor. He la
