"Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon Sinners in t...
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Aug 04, 2011
There is almost a glut of material on Jonathan Edwards. That can be both good and bad. It is good that men are wrestling with Edwards's life and thought. A study of Edwards can renew intellectual life within the church. Furthermore, Edwards is being fairly studied by scholars outside the conservative world. This, too, is good. But there is always the question when a new Edwards book comes out: is there anything left to say? George Marsden thinks so. And Marsden takes his point of departure from More...
Jul 31, 2009
Elaine
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This book is not an easy read. It is a good read, just not an easy one. If that seems to be splitting hairs, well, that is probably appropriate for the subject matter. It is also not a short book. It is 30 chapters long, and I found that a chapter or two at a time was really all I wanted. I read it on my Kindle, but according to Amazon the hardback is 640 pages. One of the nice things about reading it on my Kindle was that I could download for (either $.99 a volume or $1.99 a volume, I've
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Dec 03, 2010
David
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This is a brilliant biography. Marsden does an excellent job in offering a balanced perspective on Edwards. If people have heard of Edwards at all, most think of him as merely a long-dead hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher due to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Having studied a bit more church history, I knew him as one of the most important American theologians and philosophers in history. Reading this biography has given me a deeper appreciation for Edwards. Though I am not a Calvini
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Feb 07, 2012
Mike
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To many people who have heard of Edwards he is that religious nut who was always talking about hellfire and brimstone. To those in the modern puritanical church he is the scholar extraordinaire!
Edwards actually talked very little about hellfire, and loved to preach about the Grace of God, and His unfailing love for His children. He was a top notch scientist of his day, the finest theologian America has ever produced, and a man of extraordinary compassion for the Native Americans. His m More...
Edwards actually talked very little about hellfire, and loved to preach about the Grace of God, and His unfailing love for His children. He was a top notch scientist of his day, the finest theologian America has ever produced, and a man of extraordinary compassion for the Native Americans. His m More...
Jul 25, 2011
Paul
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Marsden is a brilliant thinker, and an eminent Edwards scholar. One will do better if one loves history and is fascinated by the Puritans. It is not an easy book to get all the way through, but as one scholar put it, "Real men read the long version!" There is an abbreviated version by Marsden for the faint of heart or short of time.
It is fascinating to watch Edwards develop from a doubter who resented God's sovereignty to someone who loved God and His design and saw and lo More...
It is fascinating to watch Edwards develop from a doubter who resented God's sovereignty to someone who loved God and His design and saw and lo More...
Jan 30, 2011
Chuck
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Historical biography that reads like epic fiction where modern assumptions towards reality are explained within their antecedent assumptions. The tension between pre and post enlightenment thought concerning the nature of God, the essence of morality and what is real are framed in a human way. I approached this book thinking Edwards a villain but have come away from it not certain of that. He was a brilliant man who sought after lasting truth while disciplining himself to a rigorous piety. H
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Sep 13, 2009
David
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Marsden is an incredible historian. There is sustained focus given to Edwards’ historical and social setting, without neglecting his complex and well-formed theology which shaped and drove him. I particularly appreciated Marsden’s attention to the controversies surrounding the Northampton revivals set within the larger context of revival in America and in Great Britain. There is much pastoral wisdom to be gleaned from these events.
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Aug 22, 2009
Mike
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Marsden does a great job of taking you back to Colonial America and the life of the greatest pastor-theologian to rise on our soil. Edwards has profoundly influenced my life. Yale University has spent decades and lots of money publishing his works. Can you imagine any leading university, in a few hundred years, publishing the works of any contemporary American theologian/pastor? This says a lot about the quality of Edwards and the lack of scholarship from the Christian community today. Here
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May 10, 2009
Taylor
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This book is a daunting task, but it is so worth it. I am no historian, but I learned more about Edwards and 18th century puritanism than I had in all of High School / College.
It's actually an easy read too.
The only downside to this book is that I got so revved up after reading it that I wrote Marsden an email. He never wrote me back and it kind of makes me sad.
It's actually an easy read too.
The only downside to this book is that I got so revved up after reading it that I wrote Marsden an email. He never wrote me back and it kind of makes me sad.
Apr 14, 2008
Kevin
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This book opened my eyes. I had never given much credit or credence to the brand of christianity that Edwards represented, but that's because I had never had it explained sympathetically. If you are willing to take a look at the assumptions that Edwards made; that there is an infinite distance between God's goodness and our sinfulness; that man's sinfulness is inherently hateful to God; and that only through Jesus' intervention at Calvary and our acceptance of him wholeheartedly do we stand a
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Oct 06, 2009
This has been a good read so far. I really enjoyed getting a more precise picture of early colonial America, but as I venture further into the actual life of Jonathan Edwards, I feel more and more the religious confinement choking the joy out of the book.
Oct 14, 2010
Since I have a signed copy and I've known George since before I could walk, I figure I'd better read the book. I also spent so much time transcribing for the Works of Jonathan Edwards that you could say I have a vested interest. So far, so good...
Oct 26, 2010
Will
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I love a good biography, but good biographies are hard to find. Great ones seem to an endangered species. This book is endangered indeed. Marsden does so much well, a reader is hard pressed to find any kind of fault with this work. All too often biographers seem to teeter on the cusp of worship as they fawn over their biographical subjects and truncate the evidence in an attempt to remove all vestiges of humanity. But Marsden is too good a writer and historian to make such mistakes. What you get
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Feb 24, 2009
Jeff
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This biography of a religious man in colonial America began my intense interest in the art of biography. It is well-written by a believer -- one who not only believes in God as did Edwards and sees Edwards as a man of God.
Dec 13, 2010
Bob
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I was thoroughly impressed with Marsdens research in this book. Iain Murray's work is more charming but this book has far more research put into it. Both should go together in my humble opinion.
Aug 06, 2009
Coyle
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Though a bit slow at the start, Marsden manages the unlikely when he makes Jonathan Edwards readable. The biography is engaging and interesting, with little fluff. This belongs on the shelf next to the Silverman bio of Cotton Mather (The Life and Times of Cotton Mather) and the Hall bio of Increase Mather (The Last American Puritan The Life of Increase Mather, 1639-1723).
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Jan 10, 2009
Glenn
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A learned, but insightful book about about the passionate devotion to Jesus that directed the ministry and life of Jonathan Edwards
Sep 04, 2009
Seth
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Marsden places Edwards's theology in the context of the American history that Edwards both shaped and lived. Controversy brewed almost wherever Edwards went. I am made to believe that such lives, lived so consistently out of such deeply-held theology, cannot help but cause people to wrestle with their own beliefs, often rooted in the intellectual trends of the era.
One critic of Edwards called him "the white whale of American religious history." His whole life was a sermon that More...
One critic of Edwards called him "the white whale of American religious history." His whole life was a sermon that More...
Feb 02, 2010
Davey
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Completely mesmerizing. Equally revealing about my own Calvinist-evangelical heritage and presuppositions.
Nov 26, 2008
Richard
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Masterful account, taking Edwards' thought seriously and putting him in historical context, poised between the Reformation and the Enlightenment. Useful to know that "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is not a hell-fire sermon about sinners being pummelled by God: the idea was that sinners are about to fall into hell, but God, although angry, holds them in his hands.
Apr 07, 2008
Chris
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Probably the best biography written on America's preeminent intellectual and only major theologian. A bit dry at times, but gives a vivid view of what life was like in early 18th century colonial America. There are few figures that can claim to be so intellectually and spiritually devoted than Edwards.
Jul 24, 2007
Petar
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Good Philosophy/Theology/History. The comparison of "The Life and Diary of David Brainerd" by Jonathan Edwards with Benjamin Franklin's "Authobiography" is genius. I look forward to reading other Marsden works.
Aug 17, 2008
Jennifer
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I love this biography of America's preeminent theologian and intellectual. Marsden does a wonderful job of bringing Edwards to life!
Apr 11, 2009
Butch
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Great biography of a remarkable mind and life. It starts a little slow, but stick with it. You won't regret it.
Jul 04, 2008
Jared
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An amazing biography of an amazing man. It is a personable read with lots of information and insight.
Jul 28, 2009
Aaron
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Excellent biography of one of America's most influential thinkers and theologians.
Feb 12, 2012
