The Silent and Soft Communion: The Spiritual Narratives of Sarah Pierpont Edwards and Sarah Prince Gill
by Sue Lane McCulley, Dorothy Zayatz Baker
Category: Biography & Autobiography

Conversion narratives were one of the earliest forms of public expression for American women writers, sanctioned - and indeed welcomed - for their personal, first-hand testimonies about seasons of religious grace. Two eighteenth century women, Sarah Pierpont Edwards and Sarah Prince Gill, wrote conversion narratives of remarkable craft and insight. These pieces, collected for the first time in The Silent and Soft Communion, represent two generations of Calvinist evangelism, addressing the social implications of spiritual regeneration and presenting full accounts of Calvinist religious life. The companion conversion narrative by Sarah Prince Gill, never before published, offers the perspective of the next generation of Calvinist women, whose religious orientation was inflected by Enlightenment values. A private document, Gill's journal offers a striking contrast to Edwards's more public writings.