Dominant Themes Addressed in the Work: Edwards was one of this country=s finest philosophers as well as theologians. His school of disciples known as the ANew Divinity@ had a powerful influence on the religious and political cultures of late colonial and early republican America.

The Great Awakening was a turning point in Edward=s religious and philosophic thought, and he felt that basically the Awakening was the work of the Holy Spirit. One of his most famous sermons preached to further this Great Awakening was the influential Enfield sermon which was called ASinners in the Hands of an Angry God.@ As Fern put it, A(Edwards) was by now an itinerant evangelist bent upon helping his brother ministers

Classroom Uses: I believe that Edwards= writings could be presented to a general high school class in U.S. history as well as to a senior level honors class in philosophy. Edwards= writings deal with such themes as the relationship between public life and God; the civil magistry; what it means to be a good citizen and demonstrates intellectual as well as religious inquiry. All of these would serve well in a classroom.

Edwards= importance today is based on the depth and breadth of his philosophical inquiry and his attempt to grapple with the issues and thinkers of his time in a spirit of philosophical and intellectual investigation.

Articles: Puritan Sage: Collected Writings of Jonathan Edwards, Vergilius Ferm. New York: Library Publishers, 1953.

to incite among their parishioners a quickened sense of the periods of coming into disfavor with God.@ (xx)

In his article, AThe Freedom of the Will,@ Alexander V.G. Allen observes that Edwards writings on free will provoked strong feelings. Speculation on predestination was expected from Ainfidels and free-thinkers such as Hobbes, and Collins, and Hume were reputed to be@ (90), but Edwards= attempts to deal with human free will was problematic since he was considered the most typical example of American Calvinism. However, the very fact that Edwards chose to ex