Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) was one of the leading religious thinkers of the colonial era. Educated at Yale, he became the senior pastor of the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1724 at the age of 21. As pastor of the most influential church in New England at the time, his powerful preaching helped launch the revival of 1734-35 and spearheaded the more extensive Great Awakening of 1740-41.

When the awakening came under attack due to various excesses and slanders, he became the leading apologist for experiential religion. His articulate defense of the revival, A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections, is now considered a masterpiece of the study of the religious mind. He always had a huge passion for missions and evangelism, and so it is no surprise that Edwards spent the last years of his life preaching the gospel to American Indians.