Jonathan Edwards: A Life

Description

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth century. In this definitive and long-awaited biography, Jonathan Edwards emerges as both a great American and a brilliant Christian. George Marsden evokes the world of colonial New England in which Edwards was reared—a frontier civilization at the center of a conflict between Native Americans, French Catholics, and English Protestants. Drawing on newly available sources, Marsden demonstrates how these cultural and religious battles shaped Edwards’s life and thought. Marsden reveals Edwards as a complex thinker and human being who struggled to reconcile his Puritan heritage with the secular, modern world emerging out of the Enlightenment. In this, Edwards’s life anticipated the deep contradictions of our American culture. Meticulously researched and beautifully composed, this biography offers a compelling portrait of an eminent American. Contents Maps Chronology of Edwards’ Life and Times Preface Note on the Text Introduction Chapter 1. A Time to Be Born Chapter 2. The Overwhelming Question Chapter 3. The Pilgrim’s Progress Chapter 4. The Harmony of All Knowledge Chapter 5. Anxieties Chapter 6. ‘‘A Low, Sunk Estate and Condition’’ Chapter 7. On Solomon Stoddard’s Stage Chapter 8. And on a Wider Stage Chapter 9. The Mighty Works of God and of Satan Chapter 10. The Politics of the Kingdom Chapter 11. ‘‘A City Set on a Hill’’ Chapter 12. God ‘‘Will Revive the Flame Again, Even in the Darkest Times’’ Chapter 13. The Hands of God and the Hand of Christ Chapter 14. ‘‘He That Is Not with Us Is Against Us’’ Chapter 15. ‘‘Heavenly Elysium’’ Chapter 16. Conservative Revolutionary Chapter 17. A House Divided Chapter 18. A Model Town No More Chapter 19. Colonial Wars Chapter 20. ‘‘Thy Will Be Done’’ Chapter 21. ‘‘I Am Born to Be a Man of Strife’’ Chapter 22. The Crucible Chapter 23. The Mission Chapter 24. Frontier Struggles Chapter 25. Wartime Chapter 26. Against an ‘‘Almost Inconceivably Pernicious’’ Doctrine Chapter 27. Original Sin ‘‘in This Happy Age of Light and Liberty’’ Chapter 28. Challenging the Presumptions of the Age Chapter 29. The Unfinished Masterworks Chapter 30. The Transitory and the Enduring Appendix A. Genealogical Table of Edwards’ Relatives Appendix B. Edwards’ Sisters Appendix C. Edwards’ Immediate Family, from His Family Bible Notes Credits Index