Goodwin, Ezra Shaw, 1787-1833

Ezra Goodwin was a Unitarian minister.

Ezra Shaw Goodwin (1787-1833) was a Unitarian minister in Sandwich, Mass. He graduated from Harvard College in 1807 and was ordained in Sandwich in 1813.

Ezra Shaw Goodwin (1787-1833), born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, received an AB from Harvard College in 1807 and an AM in 1811. He served as a minister in Topsham, Maine from 1810-1811, and in Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1811-1812. In 1813 he was ordained as pastor of the First Congregational Church and Society, in Sandwich, Massachusetts. In 1814 he married Ellen Watson Davis. He died at age 46 in 1833.

Goodwin's religious views were most widely known through writings appearing in the Christian Examiner. The first article appeared in 1828, in the form of an essay on the meaning of the Greek and Hebrew expressions "everlasting punishment" and "life eternal," in Matthew XXV.46. Remarks on this article were published in The Spirit of the Pilgrims by Professor Stuart of Andover. These remarks were soon followed by a letter from Rev. Goodwin in the Examiner for September 1830, and then commented on by Professor Stuart in an Appendix to his Exegetical Essays on several Words relating to Future Punishment. Mr. Goodwin responded at great length in later issues of the Examiner.