Jonathan Edwards Known as the first major philosopher in the American colonies, Jonathan Edwards is remembered today principally as the author of many great sermons. Born in 1703, eighty years after the Puritans landed in New England, Edwards stood between Puritan America and modern America. He was said to be a brilliant, thoughtful, and complicated man. Edwards succeeded his grandfather Solomon Stoddard. He was the pastor of the congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts. Stoddard was so powerful a figure in religious affairs that he was known as the "Pope of the Connecticut Valley." Jonathan's abilities as