Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758) was a preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans. Edwards is widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian, and he’s considered one of America’s greatest intellectuals. Edwards’s theological work is very broad in scope, but he is often associated with his defense of Reformed theology, the metaphysics of theological determinism, and the Puritan heritage. Recent studies have emphasized how thoroughly Edwards grounded his life’s work on conceptions of beauty, harmony, and ethical fittingness, and how central The Enlightenment was to his mindset. For example, Edwards was genuinely committed to the promotion of gender equality. His interest in Eve has been interpreted by scholars as an indication that he harbored proto-feminist views: