Jonathan Edwards: Writings from the Great Awakening (LOA #245)

(Hardback)

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For five months during the winter and spring of 1734-35 the frontier town of Northampton, Massachusetts, experienced a surge in religious conversions, something that had occurred several times before in its eighty-year history. A collection of writings from and about New England's Great Awakening-a spiritual movement that gave rise to American evangelicalism-from the theologian and philosopher who first reported it to the masses Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is recognized today as a great theologian and philosopher. In his own day Edwards was best known as a leader of what is now known as the Great Awakening- a series of small-town revivals that mushroomed into a movement credited with giving birth to American evangelicalism and laying the groundwork for the American Revolution. In authoritative texts drawn from first editions and manuscript sources, this volume brings together all of Edwards's essential writings from and about the revivals, including the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and his vivid Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundreds of Souls, the work that first publicized the awakenings. Characterized by precise logic and powerful imagery, his writing continues to inspire students and spiritual seekers alike. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Author Bio

Philip F. Gura is the William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Jonathan Edwards- America's Evangelical and American Transcendentalism- A History, among other works, and serves as an editor for the Norton Anthology of American Literature. His newest book is Truth's Ragged Edge- The Rise of the American Novel.