American pastor, philosopher, and theologian (1703-1758), widely regarded as the greatest mind America has ever produced. Pastor of the Congregationalist church in Northampton, Massachusetts (1726-1750), then missionary to the Mohican and Mohawk at Stockbridge, and finally — for a few weeks before his death — president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). He died of complications from a smallpox inoculation. His writings ignited and later theologically interpreted the First Great Awakening (1730s-40s) — the revival that swept the American colonies and shaped evangelical Christianity ever after.
Edwards combined Reformed theology, Puritan piety, and Enlightenment philosophical rigor at a level no subsequent theologian has quite matched. His best-known sermon — "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741) — is often caricatured, but in context was a sober call to flee to Christ, not a rant. His larger achievements are theological: (1) Religious Affections distinguishes true from false religious experience, foundational reading for navigating revival; (2) Freedom of the Will defends compatibilism (genuine human agency within God's sovereignty); (3) The End for Which God Created the World argues God's ultimate goal is the display of His own glory in the happiness of His people — the theological taproot of modern "Christian hedonism" (Piper); (4) The Nature of True Virtue locates genuine virtue in love to Being in general (i.e., love to God and all that bears His image); (5) his history-of-redemption project, cut short by his death, tried to read all history as a single unfolding drama with Christ at the center. Read Edwards slowly. He rewards every hour.