Editing Jonathan Edwards (theologian) (section)

=== Slavery ===
Edwards [[Slavery in the colonial history of the United States|was involved with slavery]] during his lifetime. In June 1731, he purchased a young black teenager named Venus. In subsequent years, he acquired at least five more slaves: Joab and Rose Binney, Titus, Joseph, and Sue. Edwards married Joab and Rose in 1751; Titus was their son. Joseph and Sue were also a married couple. Edwards also owned a slave by the name of Leah, though this is likely the biblical name given to Venus as she was admitted as a full member to Edwards' church by  1736.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stinson |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Stinson |date=April 5, 2012 |title=The Other Side of the Paper: Jonathan Edwards as Slave-Owner |newspaper=[[Daily Hampshire Gazette|Valley Advocate]] |url=http://valleyadvocate.com/2012/04/05/the-other-side-of-the-paper-jonathan-edwards-as-slave-owner/ |access-date=October 5, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sweeney |first=Douglas A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvhaQ3Ju9dYC&q=%22they+owned+several+slaves.+Beginning+in+June+1731%2C+Edwards+joined+the+slave+trade%2C+buying%22+Girle+%22named+Venus%22&pg=PA66 |title=Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word: A Model of Faith and Thought |publisher=[[InterVarsity Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8308-7941-0 |location=Downers Grove |pages=66–68 |quote=...they owned several slaves. Beginning in June 1731, Edwards joined the slave trade, buying 'a Negro Girle named Venus ages Fourteen years or thereabout' in Newport, at an auction, for 'the Sum of Eighty pounds.'}}</ref> In a 1741 pamphlet, Edwards defended the institution for those who were debtors, war captives, or were born enslaved in North America, but rejected the [[Atlantic slave trade]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Minkema |first=Kenneth P. |year=2002 |title=Jonathan Edwards's Defense of Slavery |url=https://edwardseducationblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/minkema-defense-slavery.pdf |journal=[[Massachusetts Historical Society|Massachusetts Historical Review]] |type=Race & Slavery |volume=4 |pages=23–59 |issn=1526-3894 |quote=Edwards defended the traditional definition of slaves as those who were debtors, children of slaves, and war captives; for him, the trade in slaves born in North America remained legitimate.}}</ref>

Attention to this fact became prominent during the 2010s and 2020s. Responses have ranged from condemnation<ref>{{cite web |last=Raymond |first=Kaymarion |date=June 19, 2021 |title=Slavery in Northampton |url=https://fromwickedtowedded.com/2021/06/19/slavery-in-northampton/ |website=From Wicked to Wedded}}</ref>  to the view that he was a man of his time.<ref name="Gateway">{{cite web |title=Jonathan Edwards and Slavery |url=https://thegateway.press/jonathan-edwards-and-slavery/}}</ref> Other commentators have sought to maintain what they see as valuable in Edwards' theology, while deploring his involvement in slavery.<ref name="lament">{{cite web |title=Jonathan Edwards and His Support of Slavery: A Lament |date=February 27, 2019 |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/jonathan-edwards-support-slavery-lament/}}</ref>