Category: Articles

The Sermon that Reignited the Edwards Craze of the 1990’s: John Piper’s “The Pastor as Theologian”

At his 1988 Pastor’s Conference at Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper preached his first “Biography” message which would launch an annual tradition and a new genre category on the greatly helpful Desiring God site. Each year subsequently, Piper would read the works of one particular pastor, theologian, or missionary and give a biographical sketch at one portion of the conference. Most year’s he would then take questions for the time remaining.

For the first year, Piper chose as his subject – ultimately the first of many such sketches – his dead mentor, Jonathan Edwards. In this message, Piper sketches Edwards’s life, and gives a short history of the Bethlehem Pastor’s own reading of Edwards: first with An Essay on the Trinity, then The Freedom of the Will, The Nature of True Virtue, and the Religious Affections.

For me as for many of the new young Edwards enthusiasts, this talk sparked an interest in the man and the message of Jonathan Edwards. Piper passionately showed how the Northampton Puritan simultaneously held his “God-besotted worldview” with a massively beautiful God, how he labored daily to enjoy the Scriptures God gave the Church, as well as how Edwards maintained vigorous study habits throughout his days with Bible and pen in hand.

I suspect that this single message was as responsible as any other individual factor (although there were many) in relaunching the Edwards craze among young scholars. Piper’s passionate plea to take up the worldview of Edwards, with its gloriously central view of God’s sovereignty, and to take it back into pulpits all over the world.

Here is the audio link. 

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Interview with Rob Boss, Ph.D on His New Book: God-Haunted World: The Elemental Theology of Jonathan Edwards

 

Today, EdwardsStudies.com has the privilege of talking with Rob Boss about his new book God-Haunted World: The Elemental Theology of Jonathan Edwards.

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Tell us a little about yourself Rob, how long have you been studying Jonathan Edwards, and how did you get interested in his works?

Thank you for the invitation, Matthew. My first encounter with Edwards was in 1994 while reading Michael Crawford’s Seasons of Grace: Colonial New England’s Revival Tradition in Its British Context (OUP, 1991). Soon afterward I purchased the Banner of Truth edition of Edwards’ works and began reading Freedom of the Will. It was an experience akin to drowning, but I persevered until I finished the Hickman edition of Edwards’ works. I then started collecting the Yale edition.

My interest in Edwards has been driven primarily by my experience of God’s grace. I found in Jonathan Edwards a doctor of the soul who could diagnose spiritual ailments and prescribe treatments that heal. His ability to direct persons to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ resonated deeply with me.

After pastoring a church in Oklahoma I returned to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for Ph.D. work in church history, where I wanted to continue my study of Edwards. It was at Southwestern that I met my dissertation supervisor, Robert Caldwell. Caldwell is a careful JE scholar who studied under Doug Sweeney and has written books on Edwards’ trinitarian theology and theology of awakening.

You scored a sweet review from Douglas Sweeney and have a recommendation from Kenneth Minkema as well. Those guys are pretty awesome in our quarters. How did you score those reviews? Have you worked with them before?

“Sweet” is an apt (and even Edwardsean) description. I am very thankful that they requested review copies of my book.

I first met Ken Minkema in October of 2007 at Northampton, MA. Under the direction of Richard Hall, a conference was convened at First Churches of Northampton on the theme of “Jonathan Edwards and the Environment.”

I presented papers at a series of Northampton conferences in 2007, 2008, and 2010. Participants included Ken Minkema, M.X. Lesser, Stephen Nichols, Rhys Bezzant, Gerald McDermott, Michael McClymond, Robert Caldwell, Oliver Crisp, and other Edwardsean scholars. It was a stimulating time to say the least.

Tell us about the title of the book God-Haunted World.

The title of the book is a story in itself. When I returned to seminary for doctoral work, I met Stephen Dempster, a noted OT scholar visiting from Canada. Though from a different field, he was full of encouragement and advice. We had a number of inspiring discussions on Edwards’ typology and natural theology. During one of our exchanges, he described Edwards’ worldview as “God-haunted” and encouraged me to write a book about it.

I registered the domain name godhauntedworld.com and began writing furiously. At the end of a couple of months, I showed my writing to Caldwell, who wisely suggested that I reduce it to 20 or so pages and submit it to a journal. Instead of submitting it for publication, I submitted it to the 2007 Northampton conference on “Jonathan Edwards and the Environment.” My paper was titled “God-Haunted World: An Edwardsean Rationale for Saving the Creation.” I soon received notice that my paper had been accepted. I was elated!

In the following years, I stuck with the “God-haunted world” theme and tried to bend my doctoral papers in that direction.

What do you mean by “The Elemental Theology of Jonathan Edwards.”

“Elemental” denotes the role of nature or the elements in Edwards’ emblematic theology.

Take us through the flow of the book. How do you progress through the content?

The book begins with a brief historical survey of the emblematic worldview of the Renaissance and its adoption by post-Reformation Protestants and emblem writers. I examine some emblematic works of select individuals such as Ralph Austen, John Bunyan, Benjamin Keach, Cotton Mather, and others. I then compare Edwards’ notebook “Images of Divine Things” with theirs, noting poetic quality, doctrinal content, and the primacy of Scripture over nature. I identify Edwards’ project as a reinscripturation of the world and I explore the main theological categories of his intertextual, devotional worldview.

Tell us about some of the main works of Edwards that you discuss in this book.

I focus mainly upon his typological notebook “Images of Divine Things,” with reference to his Miscellanies, Scientific Writings, and Sermons.

What do you want readers to capture about President Edwards, the man himself, by reading this work?

I hope that readers will better understand the meditative Edwards. I want to introduce them to Edwards’ intensely devotional, reinscripturated worldview which he summed up perfectly in “Image” no. 70,

If we look on these shadows of divine things as the voice of God, purposely, by them, teaching us these and those spiritual and divine things, to show of what excellent advantage it will be, how agreeably and clearly it will tend to convey instruction to our minds, and to impress things on the mind, and to affect the mind. By that we may as it were hear God speaking to us. Wherever we are and whatever we are about, we may see divine things excellently represented and held forth, and it will abundantly tend to confirm the Scriptures, for there is an excellent agreement between these things and the Holy Scriptures.

As I mention in the book, familiar objects such as spiders, arrows, death, sun, rain, plants, animals, and human events are transformed into powerful and affecting mental images in Edwards’ preaching and writing. The entire world is a vivid illustration of spiritual truth, truly a second book of revelation which provides powerfully affective images both comforting and frightful.

How did your research change your views about Edwards, if at all, during the process of writing?

A significant turning point in my understanding of Edwards came when I began to classify Edwards, Bunyan, and others like them as creative evangelical theologians. They believed that a poetic disposition is requisite to a proper understanding of Scripture and the world.

This is fascinating to me, especially since both E.O. Wilson and Richard Dawkins have given the poet-scientist an exalted role in properly interpreting the world. In Unweaving the Rainbow, Dawkins says that nature should inspire scientists to write poetry in order to transform worldviews. Jonathan Edwards says that creation is poetry. The difference is huge.

Reading Tibor Fabiny’s work helped me see Edwards in a wider context which included Luther, Shakespeare, emblem writers, and the English Baptist Benjamin Keach.

Writing about Edwards’ poetic worldview of similitudes and correspondences can be a frustrating exercise. One wants to see, touch, and manipulate his system of thought; at least I do. A recent breakthrough came when I started visualizing Edwards’ thought through complex network graphs. I was able to include some of these visualizations in the book, and am doing more on ElementalTheology.com.

The cover art is pretty cool. Who came up with that concept?

Full credit goes to my younger daughter, Sarah. While she was home on summer break from Wheaton College I took advantage of her artistic abilities and commissioned her to create a “new and cool” Edwards with a piercing and direct gaze. I think she nailed it. She also copy edited the book (though any remaining mistakes are entirely my own).

Have you read Oliver Crisp’s new work Edwards Among the Theologians?

I have read selections of it and am eager to finish it. His work is simply remarkable.

What are you reading right now?

In addition to the Bible, I am currently rereading Notes on Scripture, WJE, vol. 15, along with some Dostoevsky and Steinbeck.

Are you done with Edwards yet, or are you going to keep digging for future works?

There is much more to be explored … Edwards’ theology is an ocean of great breadth and immense depth.

Thanks for interviewing with us, Rob. Any parting thoughts or recommendations for readers of EdwardsStudies.com?

I leave you with a cool quote from Mark Noll’s America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln, 444.

Attentive readers of these pages will realize that if I had to recommend only one American theologian for the purposes of understanding God, the self, and the world as they really are, I would respond as the Separatist Congregational minister Israel Holly did in 1770 when he found himself engaged in theological battle: “Sir, if I was to engage with you in this controversy, I would say, Read Edwards! And if you wrote again, I would tell you to Read Edwards! And if you wrote again, I would still tell you to Read Edwards!”

Sam Storms: Edwards on Original Sin

Note: this article originally appeared on SamStroms.com where dozens of excellent articles can be found on the theology of Jonathan Edwards. 

Perhaps no one in the history of the Church (aside from Pelagius) was more vocal and persistent in objecting to the reformed doctrine of imputation and original sin than was John Taylor (1694-1761) of England. His views were made explicit in a volume he wrote in 1735 entitled,The Scripture-Doctrine of Original Sin. Certainly the best testimony to the influence of Taylor’s work was that provided by Jonathan Edwards (1703-58):

“According to my observation, no one book has done so much towards rooting out of these western parts of New England, the principles and scheme of religion maintained by our pious and excellent forefathers, the divines and Christians who first settled this country, and alienating the minds of many from what I think are evidently some of the main doctrines of the gospel, as that which Dr. Taylor has published against the doctrine of original sin.”[1]

Taylor’s disdain for the reformed doctrine of imputation and original sin was grounded upon one foundational principle that he held to be inviolable: sin and guilt are entirely personal.One person’s sin is his alone and cannot be reckoned or charged to the account of another. Neither can guilt in any sense be corporate apart from the voluntary consent of all persons involved. “A representative of moral action,” said Taylor, “is what I can by no means digest. A representative, the guilt of whose conduct shall be imputed to us, and whose sins shall corrupt and debauch our nature, is one of the greatest absurdities in all the system of corrupt religion.”[2]Concerning Adam and Eve, he insisted that as the sin “they committed was personal, done only by them; so also must the real guilt be personal, and belong only to themselves; that is, no other could, in the eye of justice and equity, be blameable and punishable for that transgression, which was their own act and deed, and not the act and deed of any other man or woman in the world.”[3]

Taylor argues that only the person who has a “consciousness” of sin can justly be held guilty for it. It is absurd to suppose that an infinitely righteous God would charge with a crime persons who had no hand or choice in its execution, indeed, a crime committed before they even existed. Such is possible only on the “purely imaginary”[4] supposition that one man’s consciousness, and therefore liability of guilt, is transferable to another. To charge God with such an act is “highly profane and impious.”[5]

Finally, in a statement that fairly shook with indignation, Taylor sums up his feelings concerning the reformed doctrine of original sin:

“But that any man, without my knowledge or consent, should so represent me, that when he is guilty I am to be reputed guilty, and when he transgresses I shall be accountable and punishable for his transgression, and thereby subjected to the wrath and curse of God, nay further that his wickedness shall give me a sinful nature, and all this before I am born and consequently while I am in no capacity of knowing, helping, or hindering what he doth; surely anyone who dares use his understanding, must clearly see this is unreasonable, and altogether inconsistent with the truth and goodness of God.”[6]

Is imputation immoral? Is it unjust? Is it wrong for God to hold us accountable for the sin of Adam? Many have responded to these questions, but none with more creativity and depth than Jonathan Edwards. What was his solution to the problem posed by the doctrine of original sin?

If we are to understand Edwards’ solution to this problem we must come to terms with two crucial and controversial concepts he developed: his doctrine of “continuous creation” and his theory of “personal identity.” We will begin with the doctrine of continuous creation (creatio continua).

Who “Caused” It?

According to this doctrine, the initial creation ex nihilo of all things was but the first act in a never-ending series of creative acts whereby God each moment preserves and upholds the existence of all things. The same power required to bring an entity into being is required to sustain it in or as being. Therefore, the distinction between “creation” and “preservation” or “conservation” is only semantic, not conceptual. Edwards argues that it is by means of a continuous creation from instant to instant that all created substance, both material and immaterial, is preserved in being. Thus he says that

“God’s preserving created things in being is perfectly equivalent to a continued creation, or to his creating those things out of nothing at each moment of their existence. If the continued existence of created things be wholly dependent on God’s preservation, then those things would drop into nothing, upon the ceasing of the present moment, without a new exertion of the divine power to cause them to exist in the following moment.”[7]

The doctrine of continuous creation simply asserts that the existence of any and all entities at any and all times is the immediate effect of divine power. Edwards would insist that event B always follows event A, not because A is the efficient cause of B, but because God has ordained that when A occurs (an event that God produces ex nihilo), B will follow. What you and I might call a causal sequence Edwards calls a series of divine acts. All substance and all events are productions of divine power, continuous creations. Event B does not follow event A because of some mechanistic impact of A on B. The principle on account of which B necessarily follows A is the will of God operating on B so that it will follow A. It is the divine wisdom which has determined that it was fitting for B to follow A and for A to precede B in the order of nature (and not anything in A or B themselves).

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Three Years in the Mind of a Genius: Reflecting on Reading My Dead Mentor

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to pursue a handful of theological mentors as a lifelong learner. I believe it was John Piper who wrote something to that effect in one of his books. He had chosen Jonathan Edwards as one of his own “dead mentors,” and I too began to be intrigued by the idea that I could take just a few of the great dead theologians and study their thinking reflectively. I mean, really delve deeply into their thought and way of life to absorb as much as possible about them.

In some sense, we must all choose between reading broadly and reading deeply to some extent. We could choose, for instance, to read quite broadly from a bit of Augustine, Luther, and Edwards here,  and then a little bit of Warfield, Lewis, Piper, Packer and others there. In fact, I see great value in that sort of enterprise. After all, I do want to be well read, and I think most other scholars, theologians, and pastors feel the same. But we’d probably have to skim across the top, and read just a few of their well known works to really get to know each of them.

Another approach could be to choose to read deeply and reflectively in just one or two of these authors, if perhaps only for a few months or years at a time. After all, the shortness of human life, the finitude of our humanity, and the competition for our time from other endeavors in life (such as the priority of church, ministry, and family) all necessarily limit our scope and ability to read all that we want to read.

So I took Piper’s advice and for the last three years, I have been trying to live in the mind of just two men, the dead theologian Jonathan Edwards, and the living theologian John Frame. I have to admit that this has been very good for my overall thinking.

I chose Jonathan Edwards for my doctoral dissertation at Reformed Theological Seminary, and I didn’t look back. I made this decision consciously, and having already sampled quite a bit of his material in prior years, especially his sermons. I determined to read Edwards for a number of reasons: 1. Edwards represents some of the best thinking in my own tradition, Reformed or Calvinistic evangelicalism. 2. Edwards is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, theologian America has ever produced. I could read him in his own language, English, untranslated. 3. But my third reason was most important: he spoke about joy as much or more as any other theologian I know of. If Luther is the theologian of justification, and Calvin is the theologian of the Holy Spirit, Edwards must certainly be the theologian of joy.

Stressed and worn by several hard years of pastoral ministry, I needed a good dose of joy and Edwards was just the one to give it to me. My topic for my dissertation then became “Jonathan Edwards’s Theology of Joy.”

So for the past three years I have been studying the life and ministry of Jonathan Edwards. I read his Religious Affections, The End for Which God Created the World, The Nature of True Virtue, The Distinguishing Marks, Freedom of the Will, and many more.

In the best sense of the word, I have stalked him. I’ve been rummaging through his major works. I’ve been ruminating in his personal papers and Miscellanies. Even eavesdropping into his private letters. And I have found joy everywhere.

[See also my post: Top Ten Edwards Books]

In the coming months, I hope to publish my findings from my dissertation more broadly so that others too can savor the gleanings of joy that I found in Edwards. But before I wrap up this post, I want to give just a few reasons why you too should consider spending a few months or years in the mind of a genius like Edwards.

1. Choosing a dead theologian takes us out of our limited culture and experience and puts us into the midst of the trials and struggles of saints who have gone before us. I especially appreciated walking with Edwards as he found joy in the tumults of his own times: the threats of Native Americans, the tensions regarding the Great Awakening, and even the looming danger of such diseases as tuberculosis, which eventually took the life of his friend David Brainerd. These struggles, although greatly different from our own, actually show us how much we have in common.

2. Reading a dead theologian helps us to think perspectivally. As I go through my day, reading my Bible, talking to my staff, playing with my children – I can’t help but be myself. None of us can be anything other than ourselves! And yet reading deeply and reflectively in another man’s works helps us to see life (even our Bibles!) through another lense. Through another perspective. Having read dozens of books by and about Edwards, I can’t help but ask myself “How would Edwards have viewed this?” or “What would Edwards have done about this problem?” Considering our situations from another perspective helps us to be more objective thinkers and overall, more creative and credible preachers, and writers (or artists, homemakers, or engineers as the case may be).

3. Finally, by reading a dead theologian, I got a fresh glimpse of Edwards’s God. The Northampton Puritan helped me to see God again and in bright, daring new ways. The God of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is certainly different from the milder, more domesticated God of many seeker-friendly churches today! Edwards expanded my view of God’s greatness; His holiness, justice, and power. Most of all, and perhaps this is particular to Edwards, I saw God again as Holy Trinity. Edwards is constantly reminding his readers that salvation is accomplished by a thrice-holy God, ever existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this God – is relentlessly joyful in Himself.

Matthew Everhard is the senior pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida and the curator of EdwardsStudies.com. 

Jonathan Edwards’s Blank Bible

Jonathan Edwards’s Blank Bible

(Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on Bible Design Blog on May 28, 2015).

The Blank Bible

Two famous men in Colonial-American history owned Bibles that had literally been cut to pieces and then stitched back together again.

The first, was Thomas Jefferson – more concerned with morality than divinity – who famously edited out the miraculous and the supernatural from Scripture. Hardly an orthodox Christian by any definition, Jefferson simply cut away the portions that he did not like.

The other man was the famous New England Puritan, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), considered by some to be the greatest scholar that America has ever produced. Edwards’s own rebound Bible had an entirely more sacred purpose – he took copious notes on nearly every major section of Scripture.

The story of this particular Bible is relentlessly fascinating.

Edwards Blank Bible2

What is the Blank Bible?

Dubbed by most (including Edwards himself) as the “Blank Bible,” the official title of the manuscript is technically “Miscellaneous Observations on Holy Scripture,” and can be found today in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. There, you can see it yourself – possibly handle it even – provided of course that the curator is in a good mood, and that you lick the orange Cheetos powder off your fingers before touching it.

The Blank Bible is entirely unusual in construction: it is really two books in one. It consists of a large 9.5 X 7.5 inch blank writing notebook, nearly three inches in girth, into which an entire miniature King James Version of the Bible has been meticulously stitched. Bound in brown leather over board , the book literally looks like one larger volume ate a smaller one for dinner.

Picture something the size of an ESV Study Bible, but fatter at the top than the bottom. From the side view, it looks like a python trying to squeeze down a meal.

The smaller book, a 1653 King James Bible, printed in London by the “Company of Stationers” is a miniscule, double-column, AV with both side and center column references, along with some study notes provided by the publisher to boot. Someone (not Edwards) who was very skilled in bookbinding took apart both original books, first removing their signatures and cutting apart the individual sheets, and then splicing together the larger blank pages with the smaller text of the KJV. Finally, the boundary sewed the newer, larger work together as an irregularly shaped monolith.

Blank Biblec

History of the Strange Apparatus

Apparently the Blank Bible came into Edwards’s possession through family: it bears the name and handwritten signature of his brother-in-law, Benjamin Pierpont, and is dated by the same in his own script in 1728. A young candidate for ministry, Pierpont never actually ended up being ordained unfortunately. Apparently, he came into some controversy with the local clergymen having acted “apishly” around the young ladies, and was dubbed unfit for public ministry. Sadly, he died sometime thereafter.

Clearly interested in owning the unique book himself – no others like it exist – Edwards obtained possession of the Blank Bible sometime around 1730, probably through the mediation of Sarah his wife. Whether Benjamin could see that his ministry career was going nowhere and gave it to Edwards himself before he died, or whether it came to Edwards as part of the deceased’s estate is unknown. However it came into Edwards’s possession, it had already collected around 70 of Benjamin’s own thoughts and comments on Scripture. No matter. All the New Hampshire Puritan would do is add another 5,506 entries or so over the next thirty years.

The Bible itself is still in remarkably good condition. Its high traffic wear is from daily use, not at all from neglect or abuse. One theory holds that the current cover is itself yet another rebind. The fact that the signatures appear to have been tightened up against the inner columns, resulting in a smaller gutter, suggests that it was used so much by Edwards that the minister again took it to a professional, who cinched the signatures even tighter, added a newer cover and sewed it up again for a third time. A note in the flyleaf from Edwards himself dating the book to 1748 (almost twenty years after he received it) may support that theory.

Blank Biblef

So You Want to Read it Huh?

In terms of its contents, the Blank Bible contains a treasure trove of information for Jonathan Edwards scholars to devour. As a matter of fact, some people are surprised to know that there are thousands of pages of Edwards’s materials that have still never been published. This volume, too, has only recently come into publication thanks to scholar Stephen J. Stein who meticulously transcribed Edwards’s nearly indecipherable handwriting into the 24th Volume of the complete Yale edition Works of Jonathan Edwards (2006).

This is a good news/bad news deal for eager readers, though. The bad news is that if anyone wants to actually read the thoughts of Edwards on various texts throughout the Bible in the published volume of the Yale Edition, they will have to fork over $225.00 claims to do so.

The good news is that the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University has graciously hosted the entire volume digitally, published for free on the internet, alongside a host of other Edwards manuscripts, sermons, and treatises.

Blank Bible3.JPG

Writing Your Own ‘Miscellaneous Observations’

For some, this unique book will create a desire to replicate a Blank Bible of their own. For those who are interested in creating their own ‘Miscellaneous Observations on Scripture,’ there are options. It may not be feasible to do what Edwards’s Bible managed to do – merge two existing volumes into one. But it may be possible to attempt what Edwards did in spirit at least. Today, high quality Bible publishers have given us a number of options for those who want to work closely with the sacred text: just like a Puritan!

First, consider a wide margin edition. I have written about the glory of these editions elsewhere as has Mark. While you may not be able to pour 5,506 entries into the space just over an inch wide on either margin, at least you won’t have to dip your quill into the ink to write every third letter either.

Second, Crossway is making some really cool journaling Bible options now too. Their new single column journaling Bible improves on the previous edition, now by reducing the text of Scripture down to one column instead of two columns. In this way, confusion between which column of Scripture you are referring to in the lined margin space is eliminated.

If neither of these options work for you, it is still possible to acquire loose-leaf editions of several major Bible translations. Although you’ll never get that sweet leather smell, a three ring binder will give you the ability to add notes as your collection of “Miscellanies” grows.

So, go make a “Blank Bible” like Jonathan Edwards! Just don’t edit out the parts you don’t like as did Thomas Jefferson and become “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

 

– Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville Florida. He is the author of Hold Fast the Faith: A Devotional Commentary on the Westminster Confession of 1647 and a few other shorter books. 

 

Sources:

“The Blank Bible.” Ed. Stephen J. Stein. Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University Online. Works of Jonathan Edwards. Vol. 24. http://edwards.yale.edu/archive. Accessed April 2, 2015.

All pictures courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

 

Top Ten Edwards Books

I am now closing in on the completion of my doctoral studies from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, and have just received news that my dissertation is headed to the second reader, and soon thereafter, onward to the defense portion.

My topic has been narrowly focused on Jonathan Edwards’ theology of joy. For anyone who has ever attempted to read Edwards, they will find his writings just dripping with joy-related language: happiness, rejoicing in Christ, the joys of heaven, the mutual love within the persons of the Trinity. Joy is everywhere! Rich language of light, the sun, fountains, rivers, and streams all emit Edwards’ theology of Christian joy.

I’ve read deeply and broadly: books by Edwards and books about Edwards. I’ve read his treatises, sermons, and personal correspondences. I’ve read biographies about him and at least one biography from his own pen (David Brainerd). Everything is so good, it’s hard to pick. Nevertheless, I am going to attempt to recommend just one shelf-full of JE books. Here then, are my top ten recommended works from or about the Northampton Revivalist (in no particular order).

Sermons
1. Sermons of Jonathan Edwards. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. 2005). If you are looking to find some of Edward’s best sermons like “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” or “God Glorified in Man’s Dependence” this is the place to begin. [Reading Level: Moderate].

2. Sermons by Jonathan Edwards on the Matthean Parables: True and False Christians (On the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins). (Kenneth P. Minkema, Adriaan C. Neele, and Bryan K. Kimnach, eds. Vol. I. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books. 2012). What’s neat about this volume, is that unlike the above, this one is filled with previously unpublished sermons that just came into the public eye in 2012. [Reading Level: Challenging].

3. Charity and Its Fruits. (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth. 2005. Orig. pub. 1852.) Another of his major sermon series, converted into a treatise, this one focuses on the “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 and features the glorious sermon “Heaven is a World of Love.” [Reading Level: Moderate].

Treatises

4. The Religious Affections. (Mineola, NY: Dover. 2013. Orig. pub. 1746.). Likely Edwards’ most well-known treatise, this book looks at the powerful inclinations of the heart (love, joy, fear etc.) and uses them to help determine which religious experiences are true and which are false. A major work tied to the Great Awakening revivals of the 1740’s. [Reading Level: Difficult].

5. God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards. With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World.(Jonathan Edwards and John Piper. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1998. Orig. pub. 1765.). In this book, beloved pastor John Piper walks readers through JE’s easier-than-you-might-think treatise on God’s motivation for creating the universe. Hint: joy! [Reading Level: Moderate].

Biographies

6. Jonathan Edwards: A Life. (George Marsden. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2003). Here is a 500 plus page work that masterfully takes readers through JE’s life and times. I cannot imagine doing serious study on Edwards without this volume. Another honorable mention in this category is Iain Murray’s work of a similar structure. [Reading Level: Moderate].

Popular Introductions

7. A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards. (John Piper and Justin Taylor, eds. Wheaton: Crossway. 2004). Many crisply written essays on Edwards and his theology from men like John Piper, Sam Storms, Mark Dever, and more. [Reading Level: Moderate].

8. Jonathan Edwards for Armchair Theologians. (James P. Byrd. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2008). A great little introduction to Jonathan Edwards with cartoons sprinkled throughout to help readers “get it.” Really! There are cartoons! [Reading Level: Entry].

9. God’s Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards. (Sean Michael Lucas. Wheaton: Crossway. 2011). An excellent little introduction of about 200 pages to Edwards’ life and major thought categories. [Reading Level: Entry].

10. Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God. (Dane Ortlund. Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor, eds. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2014). A very helpful book that focuses primarily on Edwards’ view of beauty but also considers: prayer, temptation, Scripture, gentleness and more. [Reading Level: Entry].

Freedom of the Will: Synopsis

Attempting to reduce Jonathan Edwards’s masterpiece The Freedom of the Will down to one thousand words is a fool’s errand. But being a great fool myself, I thought I would give it the old “college try.”

Surely this is a difficult task. Not only is this work one of the true classics of American Reformed theology, but it is also an intellectual tour de force, and very difficult to read smoothly. Here, Edwards engages the longtime debate between Calvinism and Arminianism right where the primary trenches have been dug – by examining how the human (free?) will engages with God’s sovereignty.

R.C. Sproul one time said “I believe this is the most important theological work ever produced in America.” Whether or not you agree with this statement, there is no denying that Jonathan Edwards has produced a true title-contender for the best attempt at answering one of theology and philosophy’s most ancient questions: do we truly have freedom to decide our destiny, or is it somehow determined for us?

Forthwith, I make my attempt to reduce this incomparable volume down to a mere thousand words.

***

The book begins in the author’s preface with an acknowledgement by Edwards that using nicknames like “Calvinism” and “Arminianism” has its downfalls. On the same token, though, sometimes they are necessary to delineate – in the broadest strokes possible – what are the sides and terms of the debate. He admits that he is a Calvinist and will defend this position.

The book then divides into four major parts. In part one, Edwards lays the groundwork for the rest of the book.  He defines philosophical concepts and terms like “necessity,” “contingency,” and “ability” that will be used incessantly throughout. Readers had better pay attention here or be lost forever!

Of particular importance, Edwards makes a distinction between what he calls “moral ability” and “natural ability.” Natural ability (or inability, as the case may be) has to do with what a man is physically capable of doing. He can walk; but he cannot fly. Moral ability (or conversely, inability) has to do with what a person can or cannot do of their own volition. A drunkard may not be able to stop drinking, for instance, just as a wife of noble character simply cannot cheat on her husband (his examples).

Edwards then says something that will become the foundation for his entire treatise. Human beings, as responsible moral agents, ALWAYS (without any exception) choose to do what they are most strongly inclined to do at that time. In fact, it is impossible for them NOT to do what they are most inclined or disposed to do. In this way, he will argue throughout, our “volition will be determined.” But lest we think that Edwards is a mere fatalist, he will also argue that because this choosing is according to our own strongest inclinations, it is also completely consistent with liberty. We freely choose what we want most. For this reason, Edwards has been called a “compatibilist” (i.e. that human liberty is logically compatible with divine sovereignty).

Part two, quite honestly, is pretty boring in some respects. Over and over Edwards will repeat the same argument from every possible angle. Here, he will show how it is impossible to make any choice whatsoever from a completely neutral perspective (as his opponents suggest). Every decision, he says, is made for a reason that springs from one’s already determined inclinations. His opponents (both named and theoretical) will suggest that to be truly free, one must be able to make a decision from a completely neutral, unbiased, blank-slate, position of “liberty.” Edwards says this cannot be so.

For example, suppose we are choosing between two paths home (my analogy, not Edwards’s). One is shorter and quicker, the other is longer and more dangerous. Whenever we choose a path, we do so for some reason. We are never neutral. Perhaps we want to get home sooner. Perhaps we want the scenic view. But always something determines the choice. Even if we were to choose for no consciously known reason, there must be some reason we prefer the one path over the other.

Part two does heat up however, towards the later stages of the section, where Edwards begins to talk about God’s foreknowledge and employs a flurry of Scriptural citations. Biblicists will love this part! Here, he argues that all human choices in time are already known by God (which the Arminians also admit). But if they are known to God beforehand, they are also as sure to come to pass in the future as if God were seeing them from the perspective of the past. With God, there is no difference between seeing a future event and a past one. Both are certain in his all-knowing mind.

In part three, Edwards then attempts to answer an important question: if we are already predisposed to either good or evil (remember, we always choose according to our inclinations) what is the point of calling a choice morally “good” or “bad”? Besides, how can helping an old woman across the street be praise-worthy, if it has already been determined that I must do so? Should I get any credit for that? On the same token, how can we blame a thief for doing exactly what his constitution requires him to do? If he must steal, how is it his fault?

Edwards answers this by replying that one’s disposition is exactly what makes a person’s actions worthy of praise (or blame) in the first place. Suppose the Good Samaritan helped the poor mangled traveler in Luke 10 from a completely neutral heart. He felt nothing in his heart either way about the helpless man’s condition. He tosses a coin and it comes up “help him” rather than “leave him.” Would this be more praiseworthy than if his disposition cared deeply? Of course not! His concerned disposition is exactly what prompts him to help, and the reason why his action is worthy of commendation. Besides, Edwards argues, God Himself is completely and absolutely disposed to holy action and cannot do otherwise, and He is the most praiseworthy being in the universe! Surely we do not find fault in Him for acting righteously from a determined, necessary inclination to do what is good, do we?

In the last part, part four, Edwards considers a host of objections against his position that are still made to this day. For instance: doesn’t moral necessity (that we must do what we are inclined to do) make human beings mere machines? Isn’t this another restatement of the Greek concept of fate? Doesn’t this make God the author of sin by creating us with sinful dispositions?

Whether or not we view Edwards’s answers to these questions as satisfying will in large part be determined (no pun intended!) by whether we’ve found his prior arguments about moral and natural necessity coherent and convincing.

Of particular help to many will be Edwards’s formal conclusion itself. In this last flurry, Edwards works through each of the primary doctrinal pieces of the famous Reformed acronym TULIP in turn. With a winsome defense of Calvinism, Edwards arrives at his argument’s denouement – God’s grace is absolutely necessary to overturn the sinful heart of the rebellious person and turn them to Jesus. But in doing so, God also graciously “rewires” our predispositions so that we freely and willingly choose to savor Christ and follow Him by faith.

***

Well there you have it. The Freedom of the Will in just under about a thousand words. Now go get yourself a copy so you can work through it yourself. Happy reading!

Edwards Resolutions

This year, like every other year, men and women around the world will be making New Year’s resolutions. You know, the somewhat generic determinations of “willpower” (yawn…) to do better or be a better person in some category of life. Most resolutions are pretty mundane. Walk more. Quit smoking. Budget better. Gyms and fitness centers across the nation make a killing on monthly trials every January.

A bunch of people will resolve to finally start that diet. Good on you if you try. Others will resolve to read through the Bible in a year or perhaps just the New Testament. A noble task to be sure. Others make their resolutions so general as to defy any specificity at all: “I resolve to be a better human being!” Whatever that even means.

But in the history of evangelical Christianity, probably no one mastered the genre of the “personal resolution” better than Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the Puritan theologian from Colonial Northampton. Of course, those of you who have followed my pastoral career and writing interests already know that Edwards is somewhat of an obsession for me, as the subject matter of my doctoral dissertation. But I digress.

Jonathan Edwards wrote the resolutions when he was completing his formal education and transitioning into his vocational life as a pastor. It is stunning to consider that he began this list at the age of just 19. He completed them in his early twenties and returned to them on a weekly basis as part of his regular prayer and devotional life. The 70 Resolutions display a very profound view of one’s life lived intentionally and purposefully for the glory of God, and all seventy consider life from the perspective of eternity. Some are sweet. Others are jarring.

Listen to some of these beautiful and pious resolutions (each of which is numbered).

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the Golden Rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.

53. Resolved, to improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him; that from this I may have assurance of my safety, knowing that I confide in my Redeemer.

55. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do, if I had already seen the happiness of heaven, and hell torments.

65. Resolved, very much to exercise myself in this all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness I am capable of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and everything…

***

All of the Resolutions can be found here, alongside a massive digital compendium of Edwards’s works at the Yale website. If you would prefer to own them in small booklet form for your own devotional consideration, grab this one for just about 3 bucks.

Perhaps this year, rather than the trite and shallow vows to eat less carbs or do more squats, we might emulate Jonathan Edwards in bringing the entire scope of our lives before the perspective of eternity on a weekly basis. Consider adopting one – or several – of Edwards’s resolutions as your own.