What is the author's background in the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?

was born in
East Windsor, Connecticut in 1703.
He was a fourth generation Protestant minister. His father
was the Reverend
Timothy Edwards and his mother was Esther Stoddard Edwards. Her father

(Jonathan's grandfather) was the Reverend Solomon Stoddard of Northampton,
Massachusetts, one of
the most famous religious leaders in New England. With
this family background, Jonathan Edwards
was groomed to be a minister
himself. 

He was a dutiful student, studying up
to 13
hours a day, and he went to Yale in 1716. He married in 1727. Solomon, his
grandfather,
died in 1729 and Jonathan succeeded him as minister in
Northampton. Influenced by John Locke
(English philosopher, 1632-1704),
Edwards believed that people must do more than just know and
read religious
philosophy. They must be emotionally moved by religious doctrine and beliefs.
He
wanted to bring back the original zeal practiced by early Puritans in the
New World. Edwards and
his grandfather, Solomon, were leaders of the first
"Great Awakening," a movement
designed to encourage people to have a deeper
connection with Jesus Christ. The idea was to
"wake" them up and encourage
them to take their faith much more seriously and
personally. 

Edwards' most famous sermon, "" is designed to do just
this. He
tries to put the fear of God into his listeners to motivate them to have a
genuine
conversion experience, a transformative personal connection with
God.