Jonathan Edwards and the Immediacy of God

Jonathan Edwards is one of the outstanding figures in the history of the Christian church--he was quite simply a man of towering intellect and towering spirituality. But it has been noted even by his friends and admirers that his thought is also marked at times by certain idiosyncrasies which inevitably introduce certain complexities into his philosophical-theological system. This study contends that the theme of divine immediacy is the controlling theme and the correlating principle within Edwardss thought. It analyzes the theme of divine immediacy in the thought of Jonathan Edwards under four major heads: creation the will ecclesiology and spiritual experience. Indeed Dr. Carrick claims that the theme of the immediacy of God is the Ariadnes thread which runs with consistency through the multiple aspects of Edwardss philosophical theological ecclesiological experiential and homiletical interests. But sometimes a mans strength is also his weakness and it would appear that Edwardss profound commitment to the concept and the reality of the immediacy of God entails significant problems for his entire philosophical-theological system. Edwardss concept of divine immediacy finds its supreme expression surely in his doctrine of continuous creation; but is it not the case that this doctrine of continuous creation is in conflict with his determinism that its tendency is to destroy the moral responsibility of man and that it makes God both the author and the actor of sin? In short is it not the case that Edwardss Ariadnes thread is in fact also his Achilles heel?