Jonathan Edwards’ sermons were not the only interesting thing about his life. His childhood was very interesting also. He was part of a very large family. Jonathan was the fifth child and only son of eleven children (“Jonathan Edwards” 1). He was also a very smart child. He enrolled in what is now Yale University at the age of thirteen (Imbarrato 1) Ministry was in his family for years before him. “Although he was the son of a minister, Edwards did not accept his theology inheritance passively” (Doniger 314). His family had a long history with growing up to be ministers.
His beliefs about God and the world were not exactly like others of his time. Half way though his life Edwards …show more content…
Edwards had a great influence on the intellectual character of American Protestantism, even up to a century after his death which is really impressive for theologians of his time (Doniger 315). After a while he was not praised as much. “In a general revolt against puritanism and calvinism after the American Civil War, Edwards’ prestige declined.” (Doniger 315). He was still very impactful on many things. “Edwards was the first major contribution to the long debate about human nature in American theology and helped set the terms of that debate” (“Jonathan Edwards”). Not everyone loved Jonathan Edwards and he was not also praised for his beliefs either. “Jonathan was remembered mainly as a hell-fire preacher or as an abstruse, absent-minded metaphysician” (“Jonathan