Jonathan Edwards was born on October 8, 1703, in the colonial town of East Windsor, Connecticut on the Connecticut River. His father, Timothy Edwards (1668-1758), was the pastor there from his ordination in 1694 until his death. His mother, married to Timothy in 1694, was Esther Stoddard (1672-1760), the daughter of Solomon Stoddard, pastor of the church in Northampton and most influential minister in the Connecticut Valley. Jonathan was the fifth of eleven children born in the manse in East Windsor, and the only boy.

Edwards received his early education at home from his father. In September, 1716, he began studies at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in September, 1720 at the top of his class. After two years of further study at the college, he was licensed to preach, and in August, 1722, he went to New York City to preach, returning to East Windsor in May, 1723. Edwards received his Master of Arts degree from Yale in 1723, and in June, 1724, he began a period as a tutor in the college, where he continued his studies.

In late 1726, Edwards moved to Northampton to assist his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, in the ministry there. On February 15, 1727, he was ordained in Northampton. Later that same year, on July 28, 1727, he Married Sarah Pierrepont whose father had been minister at New Haven. Edwards had taken notice of her and her devotion to Christ as early as 1723, when she was only thirteen. The couple eventually had eight daughters and three sons.

When Solomon Stoddard died in 1729, Edwards succeeded his grandfather in the pulpit in Northampton. His ministry there was especially notable for, among others things, two periods of revival. The first of these in 1734-35, spread through most of the Connecticut Valley. The second, in 1740-42, was part of the revival known now as the Great Awakening that swept the British colonies in America. In both of these, Edwards’ role extended far beyond his own congregation. Not only did Edwards travel widely to preach in other places, but he also wrote extensively, especially concerning the revival.

Despite the growth of the Northampton church under Edwards’ ministry and the two revivals, Edwards was dismissed in 1750. The dismissal culminated disputes arising especially out of Edwards’ insistence that only those who could profess to be converted should be admitted to communion in the church, a view at odds with that of his grandfather.

From Northampton, Edwards moved his family to Stockbridge, a village on the western frontier of Massachusetts. There Edwards ministered to a group of Housatonnuck and Mohawk Indians and pastored a small congregation of white settlers. This smaller and less conspicuous ministry afforded time for Edwards to concentrate further on his writing, and he produced several important works during this time.

In January, 1758, Edwards left Stockbridge to assume the presidency of the College of New Jersey at Princeton. This position was offered to him upon the death of the school’s second president, Aaron Burr. the father of that Aaron Burr later to become vice-president of the United States. The senior Burr’s wife was Edwards’ daughter Esther.

Edwards arrived without his wife, who remained at Stockbridge to finish settling affairs there. Shortly after his arrival, Edwards was inoculated against smallpox and died of the inoculation on March 22, 1758. Edwards’ father had died in January of the same year, and these deaths were followed by those of Esther Burr, sixteen days after her father, and Edwards’ wife Sarah on October 2, 1758.