Asahel Nettleton

Who was Asahel Nettleton?

Asahel Nettleton was an American theologian and pastor from Connecticut who was highly influential during the Second Great Awakening. The number of people converted to Christianity as a result of his ministry is estimated at 30,000. He attended Yale College from 1805 until his graduation in 1809 and was ordained to the ministry in 1811. He is participated in the New Lebanon Conference in 1827, during which he opposed the teachings of Charles Finney and Lyman Beecher.

Nettleton's theology was distinctly Reformed. He believed that salvation was a work of God alone and therefore rejected Finney's practice of giving altar calls during church services and revival meetings. The introduction of the altar call, Nettleton believed, exemplified a denial of the doctrines of original sin and total depravity.

Nettleton mentored many young ministers, including James Brainerd Taylor, the Connecticut-born Second Great Awakening evangelist and primary founder of Princeton University's Philadelphian Society of Nassau Hall.