Jonathan Edwards—widely considered one the most important theologians in American history—has influenced generation after generation with his transcendent vision of our great and glorious God. But reading his writings for the first time can be a daunting task. Here to be your trustworthy guides are some of the very best interpreters of Edwards, who walk you through his most important works with historical context, strategies for reading, and contemporary application—launching you into a lifetime of discovering Edwards’s God-centered vision of the Christian life for yourself.

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This Handbook offers a state-of-the-art summary of scholarship on Jonathan Edwards by a diverse, international, and inter-disciplinary group of active Edwards scholars.

Prepared by editors of the distinguished series The Works of Jonathan Edwards, this authoritative anthology includes selected treatises, sermons, and autobiographical material by early America’s greatest theologian and philosopher. "Jonathan Edwards remains unequaled among North American theologians. These selections exemplify his special traits: eloquence, knowledge of the human heart, and metaphysical passion for complex beauty in nature, God, and Being-in-general."—Richard R. Niebuhr, Hollis Professor of Divinity Emeritus, The Divinity School, Harvard University Praise for the earlier edition: "Selections . . . representative of both the public and the private Edwards . . . give readers a nuanced introduction to Edwards and his time as well as an accessible entrée to the whole body of his work."—Booklist "The most comprehensive one-volume Edwards anthology ever assembled."—Gerald R. McDermott, Religious Studies Review

Designed for a general audience as an introduction to Edwards, Puritan thought, & 18th century philosophy in America.

Since the seminal work of the American historian Perry Miller in the late 1940s, there has been a renewed interest in the life and work of the New England theologian, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). This has grown in the post-war period, and in the last twenty years it has become an academic cottage industry that has diversified in a number of important respects. Work on Edwards now spans a number of disciplines, including history, philosophy, theology, American literature and American Studies. He is recognised as a major thinker in the Early Enlightenment period, and as one of the pre-eminent thinkers in early American history. The American Lutheran theologian Robert W. Jenson even speaks of him as 'America's Theologian'. With the increasing interest in Edwards has gone an interest in teaching Edwards. The official Yale Jonathan Edwards Center website even has tips on how to teach a course on Edwards and outlines of what such a course might include. This single volume overview of central issues in Edwards' thought is sensitive to both the theological and philosophical aspects of his thinking and will be a very valuable contribution to the literature. It will help teachers and provide a good way into the subject for graduate students too.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1865. Edited from the Original Mss., With Facsimiles and an Introduction, by the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart.