A Biographical Sketch and Documentary History of the Reverend Maltby Gelston (1766-1856)

Abstract

For all its brilliance, however, the collected works of most of Edwards’ successors, including such well-known figures as Joseph Bellamy, Samuel Hopkins, Jonathan Edwards Jr., Nathaniel Emmons, as others, rank amongst the most ignored body of theological literature in the history of theology. However, in the most recent decade, interest in Edwards and his successors has gained some new ground, particularly with respect to the reception of Edwards’ ideas, has accelerated. It is in the wake of this renewed momentum that we offer up the following biographical sketch of the Reverend Maltby Gelston (1766-1856), a little-known theologian in the New England tradition, whose hitherto private notebook, entitled, A Systematic Collection of Questions and Answers in Divinity provides insight into the development(s) of New England theology that compare in significance with such early seminal works as Joseph Bellamy’s True Religion Delineated (1750) and Samuel Hopkins’ System of Doctrines Contained in Divine Revelation (1793).