Religious Leader
Stoddard was an influential religious leader in colonial New England, and was the grandfather of the prominent theologian Rev. Jonathan Edwards. For 55 years, Stoddard occupied an unparallelled position in the Connecticut River Valley region of Massachusetts. His theology was not widely accepted in Boston, but was popular on the frontier. Opponents sometimes referred to him as "Pope" Stoddard, rhetorically placing him in the locally detested camp of the Roman Catholic Church. Stoddard insisted that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper should be available to all who lived outwardly pious lives and had a good reputation in the community, even if they weren't full members of the church. This was his attempt to save his church from a "dying religion", and was the cause of great theological controversy in 18th century New England (see also Halfway Covenant).
His ideas covered a wide variety of topics, often contrasting with mainstream Puritan thought and foreshadowing modern theological thought.
Read more about this topic: Solomon Stoddard
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