"The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 18" by Jonathan Edwards

The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 18 Volume 18: The "Miscellanies," 501-832 Jonathan Edwards, Ava Chamberlain

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Series:: The Works of Jonathan Edwards Series
Format:: Hardback
Publication date:: 11 Jul 2000
ISBN:: 9780300083309
Imprint:: Yale University Press
Dimensions:: 592 pages: 235 x 156mm

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Throughout his ministerial career, Jonathan Edwards filled a series of private notebooks with writings on a wide variety of theological topics, numbering his entries—some 1,400 of them—in sequence. This book, the second of four volumes devoted to these “Miscellanies,” contains entries written during the decade of the 1730s, from July 1731 to approximately January 1740, the eve of the Great Awakening. They record the development of Edwards’ thought as he first emerged as a public spokesperson for orthodox Calvinism, assumed a leadership role in colonial New England church politics, and acquired an international reputation as an evangelist for his role in the revivals in the Connecticut River Valley of 1734 and 1735.

Edwards used the “Miscellanies” as a repository for ideas that he intended to develop in future sermons and treatises, and these entries contain the seeds of such contemporaneous works as Justification by Faith Alone and The History of the Work of Redemption. These entries also record how the Connecticut Valley revivals influenced Edwards’ thoughts on such important theological topics as the significance of perseverance, the nature of spiritual knowledge, justification by faith alone, the rationality of the Christian religion, the history of the work of redemption, and conversion and the religious life.

Ava Chamberlain is assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Wright State University.

?This volume of Edward?s ?private notebooks,? containing entries from 1733 to 1740, chronicles his sustained barrages against deism, which he considered Christianity?s most insidious enemy. . . . These entries will help historians sort out Edward?s views on justification, which have yet to be decisively assessed. They show that Edwards grounded justification in ontological union between Christ and the believer and put increasing emphasis on perseverance.??Religious Studies Review

?Students, pastors, and scholars alike would do well to acquire this volume, along with the others in the Yale series. . . . Chamberlain?s careful presentation of Edwards?s Miscellany entries 501-832, along with her insightful introduction, make this volume a welcome new edition to the series and one worthy of consideration.??Stephen J. Nichols, Westminster Theological Journal