Nathaniel William Taylor

Nathaniel W. Taylor
Lithograph of Taylor
Born	(1786-06-23)June 23, 1786 New Milford, Connecticut
Died	March 10, 1858(1858-03-10) (aged 71) New Haven, Connecticut
Resting place	Grove Street Cemetery
Alma mater	Yale College
Occupation	Theologian, professor
Known for	New Haven theology

Nathaniel William Taylor (June 23, 1786– March 10, 1858) was an influential Protestant Theologian of the early 19th century, whose major contribution to the Christian faith (and to American religious history), known as the New Haven theology or Taylorism, was to line up historical Calvinism with the religious revivalism of the time (The Second Great Awakening). A graduate of Yale College, he returned to found the school's first independent division, the Theological Department, an institution which later became the Yale Divinity School.

Born in 1786 to a rich and religious family in Connecticut, Taylor entered Yale College when only 14 (1800) but could not graduate until 1807 because of an eye problem. While studying there, Taylor was heavily influenced by the revivalist president of Yale, Timothy Dwight (grandson of Jonathan Edwards). In the years after his graduation, Taylor studied theology, worked as Dwight's secretary, and, after ordination, became the minister of the First Church of New Haven in 1812.

While Taylor himself was not an evangelist, his sympathy for revivalism during a time when revivals were breaking out ensured that he had a major influence upon the core beliefs of revivalists and the churches that were created from them.

The Second Great Awakening, despite its scope and power, was opposed by the more established church, especially Episcopalians and "Old Calvinists", but also the growing Unitarian movement. After Taylor had been appointed Professor of Didactic Theology at Yale in 1822, he used his influence to publicly support the revivalist movement and defend its beliefs and practices against opponents.