Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Articles

Jonathan Edwards on Spiders

John Irish reveals the surprisingly Enlightened views of a hellfire preacher.

On July 8, 1741, the parishioners at the Congregational Church in Enfield, Connecticut, were in for a real treat. They were going to hear a sermon from a visiting minister, one of the leaders of the First Great Awakening, a religious movement which had begun in 1738 and was now sweeping across the American colonies. That address would go on to become the most famous sermon associated with this movement, and the most famous work from that minister, if not the most famous sermon in American history. The minister was Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), one of the leaders of the ‘New Light’ movement, and the sermon was titled ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’. It would embody all the characteristics of sermons preached from New Light ministers: strong emotional appeal, descriptive language, and a message designed to get people back into the church from fear of eternal damnation.

…