Jonathan (1703) EdwardsBirth Chart

Jonathan Edwards was a Congregational preacher, Calvinist theologian, and influential religious philosopher of the 18th century in the United States. His systematic work defended Reformed theology and the Puritan inheritance, articulating a metaphysics of theological determinism that shaped American religious thought. As pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts, Edwards played a central role in the First Great Awakening, coordinating revival fires in 1733–1735 and later contributing to the 1740 wave. His sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" became a classic of colonial religious literature and a symbol of revivalist fervor. A prolific writer, he published influential theological and biographical works — including The Life of David Brainerd and Freedom of the Will, the latter his main philosophical work — which inspired missions and evangelical reading throughout the nineteenth century. His strict stance on the terms of communion led to his departure from the Northampton church in 1750. In his later years he served as a missionary among Indigenous peoples in Stockbridge and, in 1757, accepted the presidency of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). He died in 1758 from complications of a smallpox inoculation; his legacy endures in Reformed theology and American Protestant revival.