An extraordinary man - 4 May 2009 |
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Last Saturday I had the privilege of spending 6 hours in the company of a small crowd of enthusiastic Christians talking about the life and work of Jonathan Edwards.
Many thanks to all who came for a warm welcome and a wonderfully thought-provoking day.
Here’s an outline of what I meant to say.
And here are a few very brief tasters:
Edwards was extraordinary. By many estimates, he was the most acute early American philosopher and the most brilliant of all American theologians. At least three of his many works – Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, and The Nature of True Virtue – stand as masterpieces in the larger history of Christian literature. (George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, p. 1)
I think the notion of liberty, consisting in a contingent self-determination of the will, as necessary to the morality of men’s dispositions and actions [...] almost inconceivably pernicious. (Edwards to John Erskine, 1757)
Thus it appears, if we consider matters strictly, there is no such thing as any identity or oneness in created objects, existing at different times, but what depends on God’s sovereign constitution. And so it appears, that the objection [...] is built on a false hypothesis: for it appears, that a divine constitution is the thing which makes truth, in affairs of this nature. (Edwards, Original Sin, p. 404)
If it be so, that true religion lies much in the affections, hence we may infer, that such means are to be desired, as have much of a tendency to move the affections. Such books, and such a way of preaching the Word, and administration of ordinances, and such a way of worshiping God in prayer, and singing praises, is much to be desired, as has a tendency deeply to affect the hearts of those who attend these means. (Edwards, Religious Affections, p. 121)
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog, Theology