Why God Created the World: A Jonathan Edwards Adaptation

by Ben Stevens

"For most of my life, I never thought to ask myself why God created the world. I had asked myself the question, 'why did God create me specifically,' which seemed like a more practical thing to wonder. But the answers I found to that question always struck me as shallow. I think that's because it's impossible to understand what part we play in a story if we have never grasped what the story is about in the first place."

"As far as I know, there has only ever been one book written on this subject by a Christian. It was a monumental treatise by the former president of Princeton University, the 18th century theologian Jonathan Edwards, called  A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which the World Was Created  (1765) .  Edwards gives a great answer to the question, but his tone and grammatical acrobatics make the original text nearly impossible to read."

Now Ben Stevens' remarkable new adaptation of the book brings Edwards' powerful arguments to life in fresh, contemporary language. In addition, thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter invite readers to engage with the concepts and begin to apply them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theology

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2014

Reviews

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020: Literally answers the question it set out to solve. A really clear and helpful little book about one of the most basic questions of the Christian faith!

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easier to understand version of Jonatha Edward's original. However, it was still not an easy read for me. I had to read it slowly, thinking about a bit of it at a time, but I did find it spiritually helpful and insightful. I particularly liked the many scriptures used.

[Andrew Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a great concept. Taking a foundational yet dense text, and update it to for a modern audience. The first half is great--logical and filled with some fresh insight. The second half is mostly skimable. Mostly Bible verses with a common line, which is fine but can be wearisome.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done!! I really liked this book! I was first exposed to it by John Piper but it was hard to read because well it was Puritan. This is a modernization version with lots of helpers so you can understand it! Highest recommendation

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This adaptation (if that’s the right word) of Jonathan Edwards work is succinct and straightforward. And let’s be honest, I was never going to read the original Edwards. It was a beautiful read, full of scriptural support and targeted to the general reader. Recommended!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a question that every christian would have asked, ‘Why did God create the world?’ The young asks in curiosity and the old asks in bewilderment, their advances in years have seemingly not helped them much on this question!

But, Jonathan Edwards has done A LOT of thinking in this question, and has even written a book on it! But, sometimes people have complained about how difficult it is to read Jonathan Edwards. So what can these people do? (Other than persevering on and reading it!) A good alternative is now available, Ben Stevens has paraphrased and modernised Jonathan Edwards’ ‘A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which the World Was Created’ into this easy to read work.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of abridgement or paraphrasing or anything of that sort. To me, if you really want to know what someone has written, you should be prepared to work hard at trying to understand what he’s actually saying! But alas, some works prove to be really tough, and only those who are already well-motivated to read that particular work/author would be prepared to work through it. Most would be turned off and would never again go back to such wonderful works. (John Owen would be one such example)

As I read this book, I was quite marvelled at how well and systematic and comprehensive Edwards was in thinking through this question. No doubt, being able to read this text at such a fast and easy pace made it easy for me to follow the argument that Edwards was making. (I doubt I would have been able to if I was reading the original work, you can try it yourself too! The 1st chapter of the original work is found at the appendix)

Ben is highly commended for the excellent job he has done especially with this very tough assignment. He is really able to allow Edwards to speak to us, in no way does he tries to interject his ideas into the readers but really allows the readers to come away with a deep appreciation of Edwards, and to spur readers to then dive into Edwards’ own writing.

I foresee this work will spur even more readers to be exposure to Edwards, and also encourage them to read Edwards’ in his original form. This book is really a good primer for anyone who wishes to have a feel of how Edwards is, and will act like a ‘hook’ to hook others to read Edwards even more after they’re done with this book and I look forward to future such adaptations!

Rating: 4.5/5

[Greg Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very helpful adaptation of this important work by Edwards. Stevens manages to make Edwards' ideas much more accessible to modern lay readers. Perhaps my only quibble is that sometimes the language seems a tad too colloquial; it feels as if such lofty themes deserve lofty language.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This takes a very lofty subject matter and breaks it into easier to chew on pieces, but I could still use another read-though of it, maybe in a small group setting, to fully grasp the material. This first pass was very edifying.

Second read: I want to recommend this to everyone.

[W. Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise. I want to go back and read portions of it again slowly.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating topic. The book kinda dragged in the second half, though.