Key Events
• 1703. Born the grandson of a legend, Solomon Stoddard, the “pope” of New England. Son of Timothy Edwards and Esther Stoddard. Mom and Dad are brilliant in their own right. Raised in a godly Puritan home. “Classically educated” by a master teacher.
• 1716. Enters Yale at 13. Wants to make a name for himself. Main interests are science and philosophy.
• 1721. Becomes a Christian after reading 1 Tim 1:17. Gains a new "sense of things." Worldview changes.
• 1724. Edwards has been a pastor of a small church that split off from a larger church. The small church plant struggles financially and votes to rejoin the main church. Edwards heads back to Yale to be a tutor and finish Masters degree. Reads major Puritan writers. Theological grid solidly formed at this time.
• 1726. Receives call to Northhampton to Solomon Stoddard’s church. Becomes assistant pastor.
• 1727. Marries Sarah.
• 1729. Solomon Stoddard dies. Edwards becomes senior pastor.
• 1734. Revival at Northhampton.
• 1740. Great Awakening.
• 1744. Pastoral controversies (salary, clothing, confronts lewd behavior by boys in the church).
• 1747. David Brainerd visit.
• 1749. Dismissed by congregation, primarily over communion controversy. Vote was 230 to 23.
• 1751. Moves to Stockbridge. Pastors a tiny church of mostly American Indians.
• 1758. Moves to Princeton. Dies. Hardly mentioned in newspapers.
Spheres of Influence
• In 1900 a reporter tracked down 1,400 descendants of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. He found that they included 13 college presidents, 65 professors, two graduate school deans, 100 lawyers, 66 physicians, 80 holders of public office, including three senators and three governors of states. Members of his this clan had written 135 published books, and the women were repeatedly described as 'great readers' or 'highly intelligent'...of course, there were platoons of missionaries.
• Ignites the missionary movement in late 18th century with mission biography of David Brainerd.
• Inspires revivalists (Wesley and Finney.)
• Shapes the thinking of 19th century Calvinist theologians (Hodge, Warfield)
• Inspires Scottish Presbyterians (Macdonald, Chalmers, and Robert Murray M’Cheyne)
• Influences 20th century theologians: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, T.M. Moore, John Piper, RC Sproul.
Strengths
• Remarkable mind. Theologically and philosophically wired. Amazing depth.
• Excellent writer.
• Spiritual gifts: word gifts, teaching, preaching.
• Unbelievable work ethic.
• Sarah Edwards. Remarkable woman.
• Integrity.
• Humility.
Weaknesses (these are entirely subjective and I welcome comment)
• Heavy work schedule. Workaholic?
• Shepherding. Did not not visit those in his church. Aloof. Weak in pastoral gifts.
Things to imitate
• God-entranced world view. Saw God's hand in every aspect of life. Beautiful world view.
• Inner life. Edwards ministered out of the overflow of his own soul. His writing and impact was shaped by God's word and his own union with Christ.
• Obedience to truth. The communion controversy of the late 1740s was an obedience check. Edwards passed the check and was faithful to the truth. It cost him. He was dismissed. Edwards view, however, became the dominant view in evangelical Christianity. It is unthinkable (and wrong) to serve the Lord's Supper to those who openly reject the mercy of Christ and are knowingly not a Christ-follower. Edwards was proven right.
• Passion for holiness! Theology should lead to godliness. Edwards view of a Christian life is spot on. Doctrinal knowledge accompanied by no change of heart is not a genuine Christian life.
• The importance of Holy Spirit in preaching and the role of the pastor. Edwards believed strongly in the role of the Holy Spirit in preaching. He prayed fervently for the Spirit of God to change the hearts of men.
• One's impact can transcend time and space. Edwards influence is far greater after his death than it was in his own day. He continues to influence to this day. The lesson is that writing (or blogging) can have a greater impact on lives than we can possibly imagine.
• Don't be afraid to preach the law! Edwards believed in preaching the law of God. He knew hell's best kept secret. Namely, if you seek to lead a man to Christ, you need to let the law do its work. The law is a schoolmaster that leads us to Christ. A man won't seek a doctor unless he knows he is sick. He won't seek a pardon until he realizes he is in prison.
• Believe in prayer! Edwards had a high view of prayer. And, Edwards was reformed. Most think that Reformed folks are theological determinists who don't pray because it is pointless. It goes to show that we don't need to know how God responds to prayer to know that God commands us to pray and entreat Him to move to action. We don't have to explain how that works, we just need to trust and obey.
• Ruling elders are needed. Edwards was weak at managing discipline issues in his church. He needed a session of ruling elders to help in this department. There is strength in numbers. The congregational form of government suffers from this. It is one of the main reason I believe so strongly in the Presbyterian form of government and a plurality of elders.
Thanks for this. I don't really have anything to add to the list of strengths and accomplishments; they are quite amazing.
On the list of weaknesses, I think I'd tentatively add his reaction to the institution of slavery. As a result of your previous posts on Edwards, I learned that Edwards was a slave owner. The household slaves may explain how his wife was able to run the parsonage and educate the children. There's a detailed historical essay on the subject here:
http://tinyurl.com/35utdp
Here's the final paragraph:
Edwards's draft notes and the incidents surrounding them help us to see that discussions of and accusations against slave owning and the slave trade were inextricably bound up in the most complicated of social circumstances, in which the antagonists' motives were mixed and their positions evolving. Edwards's reconsideration of the slave trade was prompted in large part by revivalism and his millennialist hopes of global conversion; however, this same millennialist fervor energized the Northfield dissenters [who Edwards opposed] to promote the revivals locally by taking the radical step of opposing slave owning. Also, if we consider religious allegiance and status, the Doolittle case provides the outline for at least three intermediate or rationalized positions between, on the one hand, unquestioning acceptance of slavery and the slave trade and, on the other, antislavery immediatism. On the popular level, we have Captain Wright and company, who, out of a curious convergence of ideology and expediency, opposed local reliance upon slavery. On the elite level, we find two distinct incarnations. The moderate evangelical Edwards came to oppose the overseas slave trade because of his support for revivalism but defended slavery as an institution and did not free his remaining slaves. Conversely, the Old Light Doolittle opposed the revivals but did free his slave
Edwards was one generation removed from the great abolitionist William Wilberfoce -- he died the year before Wilberforce was born. Some of Edwards students became ardent abolitionists. We might argue that he was just a man of his times, and in his defence, Edwards was apparently one of the first ministers in his area to accept Africans as full members of his congregation. The problem is that Edwards clearly thought long and hard about theological isses, and there were already antislavery activists, most notably quakers, during the time of Edwards' ministry. Shortly after preaching "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards wrote about slavery as it existed in the colonies. He condemned the transatlantic slave trade, but he also criticized abolitionists using theological arguments and examples from Scripture. It would appear that his world view prompted him to accept slavery as an inevitable part of the fallen world order. This view seems to have sapped any enthusiasm that he might have had for joining the abolitionist cause. Rather than opposing slavery, he ruminated on the proper role of a Christian master.
Later in his career, Edwards appears to have shifted more towards the abolitionist view, but he continued to own slaves his entire life, and several were purchased only a few years before he died. He failed to free his slaves in his will, and after his wife's death, two of his slaves, a married couple, were sold at market. There is no record indicating if they were sold together.
From a modern point of view which considers slavery an abomination worthy of God's judgement, this is ugly stuff. Either it demonstrates a fairly large moral blind spot, or a systematic flaw in Edwards' theological reasoning.
I don't want to detract from Edwards' very great accomplishments. No man is perfect, and Edwards was better than most. It does, however, suggest that we should approach Edwards' writing with his age and cultural milieu firmly in mind.
Posted by: Nick | November 05, 2007 at 09:28
Nick,
Thank you for your extensive and thoughtful comment. I wish his biographers put as much thought into Edwards' view toward slavery as you did. Perhaps Marsden's biography does a better job than Murray's book. I would like to know more.
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | November 05, 2007 at 09:49
Hello,
you mentioned holiness in your blog entry above.
You might be interested in my website http://www.holiness.org.uk which has many audio and other items on the holiness of God and it's implication for us as Christians
Posted by: Brian Johnson | November 06, 2007 at 11:59
Did Edwards view owning slaves, as a Christian, as an act of mercy? Did his study of Philemon lead him to believe slavery a necessary evil? should we not view slavery as eventually working together for good, i.e., slaves exposed to Western culture and the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Posted by: Troy | March 09, 2008 at 08:04
For more on Edwards and slavery, see
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/mhr/4/minkema.html
"
KENNETH P. MINKEMA is executive editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and lecturer in American Church History at Yale University.
"
Jonathan Edwards's Defense of Slavery
KENNETH P. MINKEMA
Posted by: j a higginbotham | August 06, 2008 at 01:17