"No eighteenth-century figure has had a greater influence on the shaping of late-twentieth-century American society and culture than Jonathan Edwards. Defying easy labels and characterization, Edwards is both religious figure and scientist, both of his time and ahead of it, both traditional and modern. No one speaks to us more clearly about what it is to be a human being and an American than Jonathan Edwards."

--Barbara B. Oberg, Editor of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
and former Editor of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Jonathan Edwards was born on 5 October 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut, to Timothy Edwards, a Puritan minister, and Esther Stoddard. An only son with ten sisters, he was educated at home and at the infant Yale College, where he received the bachelor's degree in 1720 and the master's degree in 1723. After serving as a tutor at Yale, he succeeded his grandfather, the famous Puritan revivalist Solomon Stoddard, as pastor of the Congregational church at Northampton, Massachusetts, then the most important New England parish outside of Boston. There he achieved international fame as a revivalist and as a commentator on religious experience in such works as A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.  Yet his reputation did not save him from dismissal in 1750, following a chain of events that slowly alienated him from his congregation. In 1751, he became a missionary to the Mahican and Mohawk Indians at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he criticized English exploitation of the Indians and penned his most famous philosophical treatises, including Freedom of the Will and The Nature of True Virtue. In 1757, he accepted the presidency of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) but died soon after taking office, on 22 March 1758, from a failed smallpox inoculation. Edwards' influence on American social and religious thought has been immense. His eighteenth-century disciples, including Samuel Hopkins and Jonathan Edwards Jr., drew on his theology in crafting their arguments for the immediate abolition of slavery. In the nineteenth century, early feminists found in Edwards' strong advocacy for the equal education of men and women inspiration to establish centers for female learning, including what is today Mount Holyoke College, founded by Mary Lyon, an ardent reader of Edwards. In the twentieth century, social critics and theologians such as H. Richard Niebuhr discovered in Edwards an existential ally who, as Niebuhr put it, expressed the "precariousness of life's poise" in language that resonated deeply amid the upheaval of two world wars.  Today, at the dawn of a new millennium, Edwards stands at the center of a burgeoning renaissance of scholarly and popular interest; he remains a unique index of America's rich intellectual diversity.

ARGUMENTS FOR AN EDWARDS STAMP IN 2003

Timeliness.  The tercentenary of his birth in 2003 presents the best opportunity in the coming century to honor Edwards. The year 2003 is also the projected completion date of the 27-volume Works of Jonathan Edwards published by Yale University Press, and several major conferences are being planned to mark this occasion. Finally, an Edwards stamp in 2003 would tap into the renewed tide of interest in American religion accompanying the new millennium.

Appropriateness.  David Levin, reiterating a comparison long made by American historians, has called Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin the two greatest minds in eighteenth-century America. Franklin and the other "secular" founders of the Republic have been honored with numerous stamps, not to mention currency. The time has come to give similar recognition to Edwards.

Importance.  Edwards is now the most studied figure in colonial American history, with books, dissertations, and articles about him numbering over 3,000. In reviewing the Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (Scribner's, 1988), Mark Noll has noted that no person is mentioned more than Jonathan Edwards.

Recognizability.  Millions of American high school and college students read Edwards' sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," in literature classes every year, and this is but one indicator of Edwards' ubiquity in American culture. Historian Martin Marty recounts that over a number of years he asked his audiences which four religious figures they would carve in Mt. Rushmore. The only unanimous nominee was Edwards.

Marketability.  From a homemaker in Utah to a janitor in Florida to a doctor in Dallas, the diverse inquirers answered every year by The Works of Jonathan Edwards staff at Yale University testify to Edwards' enduring popular appeal. More generally, a recent poll conducted by Robert Wuthnow at Princeton University found that 63 percent of Americans are interested in learning more about religious history, and publishers are capitalizing on this trend by issuing a steady stream of books on Edwards and other religious figures.

Feasibility.  With one outstanding contemporaneous portrait of Edwards by Joseph Badger (circa 1750-55), along with numerous nineteenth-century engravings and other likenesses, there is no shortage of material for a stamp design. The Works of Jonathan Edwards staff, moreover, has advised members of the television, radio, and print media on questions of historical accuracy, and could serve as a similar resource for stamp designers and the Postal Service.