The History of Christian Theology

Lecture 27: From Puritans to Revivalists

Jonathan Edwards, who was

Stoddard’s grandson, rejected the

Halfway covenant and sparked a

revival instead. Revival, in this

original sense, meant a period of

months in which there was a special

outpouring of grace resulting in

many conversions. Revival, for

Edwards, was God’s solution to the

problem that conversion cannot be

accomplished by human effort but

solely by the grace of God. Wesley

and others involved in the Great

Awakening of 1740–1742 in New

England read Edwards’s book

about the revival in his church in

1734–1735.

Jonathan Edwards articulated a Calvinist theology of conversion and revival.

The high Calvinism of Puritans like Edwards left unregenerate sinners no

recourse but to wait for God to convert them. Hence Puritan preachers did

not have the option of preaching what Luther called the Gospel, the promise

of grace to sinners.

The conversions in Edwards’s church followed an experiential pattern

that reÀ ected Edwards’s theology. The pattern begins with conviction or

awakening, that is, a sense of anxiety and guilt produced by the preaching

of the Law, which shows unregenerate sinners that they deserve damnation.

The key turning point is when the sinners give up struggling against the

Law and admit, in the depths of their heart, that God is right to condemn

them. This admission is precisely the beginning of an unsel¿ sh faith which

honors the truth and righteousness of God. Edwards’s famous and terrifying

sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” is designed to facilitate

such awakening.

Edwards had a profound inÀ uence on later New England theology, especially

in his concept of the human will. Edwards argued against Arminian notions

Portrait of preacher John Wesley, the

greatest Arminian theologian of all time.

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