Chauncy, Charles

Chauncy, Charles

(1705–87) Protestant religious leader; born in Boston, Mass. A 1721 Harvard graduate, he became pastor of the First (Congregational) Church of Boston in 1727 and remained for 60 years. A leader of theological liberalism in New England, he was in constant conflict with his Calvinist contemporary, Jonathan Edwards. A political liberal, too, he was an ardent patriot during the Revolution.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.