Category: Video

Hand-Sewn Edition of My Edwards Dissertation: “A Theology of Joy: Jonathan Edwards and Eternal Happiness”

At EdwardsStudies.com, we are constantly pressing the envelope for Jonathan Edwards geekiness. Not only do we review scholarly books by and about the eighteenth century puritan, but we also engage in a level of nerdy conversation rivaled only by Star Trek fans and Comic Con attendees.

In this short video, I debut my own hand-bound edition of my dissertation which I have written and intend to defend at Reformed Theological Seminary on Friday, April 15th. The dissertation is entitled “A Theology of Joy: Jonathan Edwards and Eternal Happiness in the Holy Trinity.” In this work, I have attempted to survey Edwards’s understanding of happiness, especially that holy happiness that centers on the glory of God as revealed in the Gospel.

In the dissertation, I survey some of Edwards’s most well known works (Religious Affection, The End for which God Created the World, the Resolutions) as well as some of his lesser known works (Essay on the Trinity, True and False Christians etc.)

In making this hand-bound edition of my dissertation, I attempted to create something that might have looked like a book that Edwards could have pulled off his own shelf. It is bound in cowhide leather with a suede liner, and all of the signatures (sewn groups of 32 pages) are hand-stitched by yours truly. Edwards would be proud – especially since he sewed many of the notebooks he used in his Miscellanies and other personal books.

Take a look!

Visual Theology: Edwards and Natural Types & Spiritual Antitypes

Dr. Rob Boss has been treating readers of EdwardsStudies.com and the rest of the internet to some of the most visually stunning info-graphic-style videos on Jonathan Edwards’s typology. Having done much of his work on Edwards’s views of typology by studying Images of Divine Things, Boss attempts to help Edwards scholars make the connections between what the Northampton Puritan saw in the natural world with what he believed to be reality in the spiritual world.

[See also our interview with Dr. Boss on his “Elemental Theology” here]. 

Each of the videos is short: just 30 seconds long or so, and follows the route that Edwards takes mentally in connecting natural types with their spiritual fulfillment:

Fleece of Sheep:

Climbing Mountains:

Rivers and Streams:

Video Review: The Two Volume Set of Edwards’s Works (Banner of Truth)

In this video, I discuss some of the pros and cons to the famous Two Volume set of Jonathan Edwards works published by Banner of Truth (or Hendrickson). 

On the positive, this set contains most of what you would ever want to read from Edwards including his Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, Life of Brainerd, The End for Which God Created the World, etc.

On the negative, the set is printed in difficult type in two columns making these volumes difficult to read for many people. Check out more thoughts below.

Video Review: The Yale Editions of the Works of Jonathan Edwards (Paperback)

As every Jonathan Edwards scholar knows full well, the riches of Edwards works will cost great riches (literally!) to obtain. Of the 26 volumes of Jonathan Edwards’s works, most of the hardback editions cost in the neighborhood of $125 each. Thankfully, someone at Yale Press had a good idea: put a few of them out there in paperback for substantially less. In this video, I briefly tell you about the available paperpacks.

Note: As of this time, only Volumes One (Freedom of the Will), Volume Two (Religious Affections), and Volume Four (The Great Awakening) are available in paperback.

Three Entry Level Introductions to Jonathan Edwards’s Life and Thought

In this brief video, I review three books that are excellent introductions to the life and ministry of Jonathan Edwards. The books reviewed in this video are: The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards (by Steven J. Lawson), Jonathan Edwards: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought (Stephen J. Nichols), and God’s Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards (Sean Michael Lucas). 

 

Essay on the Trinity: Two Minute Synopsis (Video)

In this short video, I give a 120-second synopsis of Jonathan Edwards’s Essay on the Trinity. It can still be purchased here used online, but you probably won’t get one like mine: signed by editor Paul Helm, and dedicated to John Frame!

See also my written synopsis here. 

Video: John Piper on The Glory of God and the Gladness of Man: Essential Affections in God and the Life of the Church

In this video, John Piper summarizes Edwards’s theology of joy under three headings: God’s joy in His ontological nature in the Trinity; joy as the end for which God created the world; and joy in relation to the fallen world and the Gospel in the redemption of man.

Where Do I Begin Studying Edwards? His Sermons.

In this short video, Matthew Everhard of EdwardsStudies.com gives a brief recommendation as to where to begin reading Edwards. If his sermons is the place you would like to begin, there is probably no better one volume introduction to begin with than the 2005 compilation of messages published in hardback by Hendrickson.

Here is the book on Amazon.

Oliver Crisp on the Preaching of Jonathan Edwards

In this message, Edwards scholar Oliver Crisp discusses the preaching style, content, and strategy of the Northampton Puritan. Crisp is a professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. His newest book is Edwards Among the Theologians (purchase here). 

Kyle Strobel Discusses His Book “Formed for the Glory of God”

Kyle Strobel, one of the number of excellent young Jonathan Edwards scholars discusses his book Formed for the Glory of God (Purchase here). In this accessible volume, Strobel discusses the spiritual practices of Jonathan Edwards including, prayer, meditation, fasting, and Scripture reading.