- Profession: Preacher
- Lived: October 5, 1703-March 22, 1758 (Great Awakening)
- Nationality: American
- Known for: Helped shape the First Great Awakening and delivered the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
- Fun Fact: He was the grandfather of Aaron Burr
- Fun Fact: He was fascinated by science, wrote on various topics in natural philosophy and saw natural laws as being derived from God's wisdom and care.
Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703 as the fifth of 11 children. He entered Yale College when he was just shy of 13 and became fascinated with both faith and science. When many of his contemporaries saw science and faith as opposites, Edwards saw the natural world and its laws as evidence of God's masterful design. During the Protestant revival in 1733, Edwards made a study of the process of conversion. The study would become his work "A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton." Four years later, Edwards preached the famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and would go on to defend the "bodily effects" of revival conversions such as swoonings and convulsions. His followers later became known as the New Light Calvinist ministers, and his writings continue to be read today.
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