Jonathan Edwards ๐๐
by Alexa Quiroz & Sayuri Sanez ๐
Getting to know Edwards ๐ฆ๐ป๐
Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 โ March 22, 1758) was a revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist Protestant theologian. Like most of the Puritans, he held to the Reformed theology. His colonial followers later distinguished themselves from other Congregationalists as "New Lights" (endorsing the Great Awakening), as opposed to "Old Lights" (non-revivalists). Edwards is widely regarded as "one of America's most important and original philosophical theological".
Middle Age๐ฎโ๐ป๏ธ
He entered Yale College in 1716, at just under the age of 13.He was interested in natural history, and as a precocious 11-year-old, observed and wrote an essay detailing the ballooning behavior of some spiders. Edwards would edit this text to match the burgeoning genre of scientific literature, and his "The Flying Spider" fit easily into the then-current scholarship on spiders. Even though he would go on to study theology for two years after his graduation, Edwards continued to be interested in science. However, while many European scientists and American clergymen found the implications of science pushing them towards deism, Edwards went the other way, and saw the natural world as evidence of God's masterful design, and throughout his life, Edwards often went into the woods as a favorite place to pray and worship in the beauty and solace of nature.
Last breath๐๐ป
Almost immediately after becoming president, Edwards, a strong supporter of smallpox inoculations, decided to get inoculated himself in order to encourage others to do the same. Unfortunately, never having been in robust health, he died of the inoculation on March 22, 1758. He is buried in Princeton Cemetery. Edwards had three sons and eight daughters.