Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:4 (Dec 2020)
Article: Jonathan Edwards And The Anti-Slavery Movement
Author: Heejoon Jeon

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Jonathan Edwards
And The Anti-Slavery Movement

Heejoon Jeon

Heejoon Jeon (Ph.D., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is an associate pastor of Hebron Presbyterian Church in Illinois. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: The antislavery movement began in earnest in the antebellum period. Although there were many political and economic reasons for its development, theology was also an important factor. In the procession from the Puritans to the Edwardseans who were actively involved with anti-slavery, this study suggests the possibility that Edwards had an overall positive influence on the anti-slavery movement through his attitude toward slavery and his theology of sanctification. Some may think that Edwards did not have an ethic of anti-slavery since he was a slave owner. However, although he did not oppose the institution of slavery, it is also true that he developed an ethic regarding slavery that is one step closer to what would become the ethics of the anti-slavery movement, including accepting slaves as church members, enlarging the Puritan’s understanding of neighbor, and opposing the slave trade. In addition, Edwards’s theology of sanctification, emphasizing Christian practice, moral duty, and virtuous benevolence, might have a positive influence on the later anti-slavery movement.

Key words: Jonathan Edwards, anti-slavery movement, Samuel Hopkins, Edwards’s theology of sanctification, disinterested benevolence

The history of the anti-slavery movement in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America includes many studies on the anti-slavery movement that focus either on the antebellum period, or at best, expand their research to the Revolution as the starting point of the movement’s impulse.1 These studies focus on the social atmosphere and conclude that “ideas associated with the American Revolution began to challenge”2 the anti-slavery movement.

While many scholars emphasize this cultural influence, not many scholars recognize the significance of the theological roots of the anti-slavery movement. Fortunately, recent studies recognize a proper connection between the theology of Edwardseans during the Revolutionary period and radical Reformers in the later

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antebellum period.3 Among the former, Samuel Hopkins is the best known.4 According to Douglas Sweeney, Hopkins was nominated by one historian as “th...