The Spiritual Testimony of Sarah Edwards During the Great Awakening

In the biography Sarah Edwards: Delighting in God, author Sharon James explores the life of the wife of 18th-century theologian Jonathan Edwards. The book highlights Sarah’s role during the Great Awakening, a period of significant religious revival in New England. James describes Sarah as a devoted mother of eleven who maintained a deep, passionate commitment to her faith despite the social and ministerial challenges her family faced.

A central focus of the account is a three-week period in 1742, during which Sarah experienced what she described as an ecstatic and ongoing communion with Christ. According to the narrative, these encounters were so intense that she frequently fainted, leading some observers to fear for her life. Sarah characterized this time as a complete death to self, which she believed prepared her for the hardships and opposition that followed. Jonathan Edwards viewed his wife’s experiences as a pure expression of the revival, asserting that her intense emotional response was firmly rooted in biblical truth rather than mere religious excess.