‘Buying and Selling: One of Those Improvements of Human Society’ Jonathan Edwards on Ezekiel 22:12

Abstract

The 1740s were a turning point in the economic history of Massachusetts. Although the immense transformation from a rural into a free market economy was just beginning, prices were being freed from their statutory restraints and a ‘proto’ free market was emerging. Relatively little has been written about Jonathan Edwards perception of the new economic order. It has been said that the idea of a self-regulating market was something of ‘a devilish fiction’ to Edwards that he lacked all insight into the basic principles governing a free market economy and was therefore condemning something he didn’t understand. An analysis of Edwards’ preparatory notes to his sermon on Ezekiel 22:12 shows...