The Thought of Jonathan Edwards (Jonathan Edwards Classic Studies)

Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian of colonial America as well as its first important philosopher. As a theologian he represents without any concession Calvinistic Orthodoxy re-thought and re-lived through the experience of the Great Awakening. The large majority of his writings are of a theological character yet this theology is articulated and expressed through a systematic philosophical reflection. Edwardsian thought covers three major areas: First being grace and glory; then the doctrine of the will extending to the study of the original sin and evil; finally an entirely original theory of knowledge synthesising spirituality aesthetics and epistemology. The present book the first edition of which appeared in French almost thirty years ago is a uniquely comprehensive study of the work of Jonathan Edwards. It discusses all the aspects of his thought over against the background of classical Protestant theology and of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Western philosophy. Our time witnesses a significant renewal of interest in Jonathan Edwards. Professor Vetos book should prove to be a major contribution to assist and to guide the readers of Americas Theologian.