Ezra Stiles

Ezra Stiles (1727–1795) was a prominent American clergyman and president of Yale College whose theological writings synthesized Enlightenment rationalism with Reformed Protestantism, making him a significant intellectual figure in late eighteenth-century American religious thought. His sermon "The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor" (1783) exemplified his vision of America as a providentially chosen nation, blending millennial theology with nascent American nationalism during the Revolutionary era. As both a scholar and ecclesiastical leader, Stiles shaped the theological curriculum at Yale and influenced the development of American Protestant thought during the early republic.