It is nearly undisputed that Jonathan Edwards was North America’s greatest theologian. And, yet after serving his local church for 20 years, he was dismissed as their pastor. Chris Armstrong reflects on the 1750 dismissal of Jonathan Edwards.
Minister. Thinker. Revivalist. America’s greatest theologian. “Homeboy” to today’s Young Reformed. Hero. Icon.
Failed pastor.
Why exactly was Jonathan Edwards, godfather of American evangelicalism, ejected from his own congregation–the church he had served faithfully for over twenty years? And what happened next? How did he respond? I explored these questions in an article for Leadership Journal:
[For a few reflections on what Edwards could still mean to the church today, see this post. For his claim to the title "father of evangelicalism," see this one. On Edwards as the original "ancient-future" evangelical, see here.]
Preacher in the Hands of an Angry Church
by Chris Armstrong
As messy dismissals of ministers go, the 1750 ejection of Jonathan Edwards by his Northampton congregation was among the messiest. The fact that it involved the greatest theologian in American history—the central figure of the Great Awakening—is almost beside the point. The fact that it took place in a New England fast moving from theocratic “city on a hill” to democratic home of liberty is more relevant.
Read the rest here.
Such an interesting article! An intriguing observation that New England’s becoming a ‘democratic home of liberty’ had lots to do with this. 260 years later, our sense of ‘entitlement’ (the American way), must contribute largely to the way we pluck pastor after pastor out of his pupit. (Just read about another this week). I am convicted about my own attitude.
Edwards was such a gift to the church.
Compare Edwards to Mary. Both said, “I am the Lord’s servant” and sacrificed much of their own dignity to the Father’s individual plans to use them for His glory.