New England theology
This theology was the basis of all the seminaries of the Congregationalists and several of the Presbyterians, and furnished the impetus for social change which birthed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, established a series of colleges from Amherst in the East to Pacific University in the West, and led in a great variety of practical efforts to extend the Christian religion.
By the time Edwards had been ordained in 1727, there were already signs of a growing division among New England's Congregationalists between the more traditional, "Old-Style Calvinism" and those of a more "free and catholick" outlook who were increasingly influenced by Enlightenment rationalism and liberal Arminianism.
As a supporter of moderate revivalism, Edwards became, in the words of historian Sydney Ahlstrom, "one of the most important interpreters of religious experience and experiential religion in post-Reformation history.
[7] In the 18th century, theologians began questioning these traditional views, particularly the idea that humans are condemned at birth for Adam's sin, in which they had no active role.
"[7] Another traditional Reformed teaching under attack in the 18th century was the doctrine of total depravity, that sinful humans are by nature unable to love or submit to God.
Therefore, for Edwards, "Because sinful human beings by nature have no disposition to submit to God, they will never see Christ as their greatest good and consequently will never choose to follow him.
[12] Nevertheless, sinful dispositions prevent the unregenerate individual from ever perceiving Christ as the greatest good, what Edwards termed "moral inability".
[15] Attainment of this disinterested spirituality was only possible through regeneration and conversion, when the Holy Spirit allowed the individual to see and understand the inherent beauty and excellency of God.
[18] In the aftermath of the Great Awakening, New England Congregationalism was divided into competing factions, including the followers of Edwards who were known as Edwardsians or New Divinity men.
The liberals, led by Charles Chauncy (1705–1787), opposed the irrational enthusiasm of the revivals; this faction advocated universalism and their successors would become Unitarians.
The traditional Old Calvinists, led by men such as Moses Mather (1719–1806) and Ezra Stiles (1727–1795), disagreed with what they considered deviations from orthodox Reformed theology, but this group ceased to exist during the Second Great Awakening.
Only after these struggles and utilizing the means of grace (prayer, seeking God, reading the Bible, and attending church) would the individual discern within himself faith and love for Christ and be encouraged to repent.
[21] Edwardsians also worked to return Congregational churches to stricter rules regarding who could be admitted to the Lord's Supper, reversing a trend allowing the non-converted to participate (see Half-Way Covenant for more information).
It originates at conversion when the Holy Spirit was believed to renew the heart so that the convert desires union with Christ through faith and embraces the way of the cross, which is self-sacrifice.
Such persons no longer worried over the status of their own souls because their love for God and the contemplation of his glory made assurance of one's salvation virtually an afterthought.
[23] The theology of disinterested benevolence led Samuel Hopkins, pastor of First Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island, to oppose slavery for the good of the enslaved.
Those principles that are merely implied in the system of Hopkins were unfolded and somewhat modified by his three friends Stephen West, Nathanael Emmons, and Samuel Spring.
