1. Living On Two Very Different Sides Of The Street In The Community We Call America by James Wood Although born within a few years of each other and coming of age during the epoch of the American Enlightenment, Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin had very different responses to the changes happening in the world around them.

2. The American Enlightenment The mid to late 18th century was the time of The American Enlightenment. Edwards and Franklin lived and wrote in a period of time capacious with intellectual rigor. Many Americans at that time had begun to reject theism, the idea of a personal God present and active in the day-to-day activities of the universe. This rejection of theism precipitated a strong movement by society towards the theology of deism, the belief in a God more impersonal and not directly involved in controlling life. Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin can be found at the polar ends of this 18th century schism in American religious belief and expression. 3. Jonathan Edwards used the pulpit of the Reformed Church to disseminate his beliefs, and Benjamin Franklin used the burgeoning American Print industry to disseminate his beliefs. Both men were brilliant minds focused on their own personal and spiritual development as well as the advancement of the citizens of the community of American colonies in the decades before the American Revolution. 4. Jonathan Edwards was born into an influential family, and he attended Yale College. He was a prestigious minister for 24 years before his fiery sermons got him fired. He later became president of a college that would become Princeton University. He died from complications from a smallpox inoculation. There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. By the mere pleasure of God, I mean His sovereign pleasure, His arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, 5. I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian, and tho some of the Dogmas of that Persuasion, such as the Eternal Decrees of God, Election, Reprobation, etc., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the Public Assemblies of the sect Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, in Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings. Benjamin Franklin was born into a working class family of modest means. As a child Franklin withdrew from school because of a lack of funds, and he worked as a soap and candle maker and as a printer before finding financial success. Over the course of his life he was an business man, author, inventor, and statesman. Twenty thousand people attended his funeral. 6. 1. Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, in Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, ed. J.A. Leo Lemay. New York: Library of America, 2005. The Library of America is a publisher of books featuring the best writing from Americas greatest writers. While Franklin was extremely prolific this edition contains many of his most important written work. 2. May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978. Henry May has written what is possibly the best survey of the American Enlightenment. He is concise but explains the period well, and he also gives a good biography of the major individuals involved in the movement. 3. Edwards, Jonathan. The Jonathan Edwards Reader. Edited by Wilson Kimnach et al., New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. This book contains a number of sermons by Edwards as well as some interesting editors notes. It shows an interesting transformation in style. Edwards became more fiery and inflammatory as time went on.