Jonathan Edwards: A Life

Jonathan Edwards: A Life

Presents a biography of the controversial eighteenth century theologian. In the first full critical biography of Edwards in 60 years, a distinguished Notre Dame scholar humanizes America's greatest colonial clergyman, a man highly esteemed in his own time but since singled out for decades of abuse by Puritan-bashers. To be sure, Edwards' brimstone pulpit rhetoric (most famously deployed in his 1741 sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God") offends modern sensibilities. But Marsden--drawing heavily on recent scholarship--restores Edwards to an eighteenth-century New England where most shared his doctrines, though few could rival him in the power with which he preached them. Exceptional insight shines through a felicitous style as Marsden recounts how Edwards acquired that power, the intellectual rigor of his Yale studies gradually lending force to his intense spiritual vision. His rare gifts enabled Edwards to kindle the Great Awakening, emblazoning his name on the pages of American history. But in narrating Edwards' luminous achievements, Marsden also scrutinizes the periods of deep personal depression and probes the dark drama of jealousy that cost him his position of ecclesiastical prominence. The man who emerges from this tangle of triumph and travail defies the easy stereotypes of the hellfire preacher: tender in his pastoral care, passionate in his conjugal loyalty, joyous in his celebration of divine love, unintentionally democratic in his New Light theology. Neither alabaster saint nor cardboard hypocrite, the Edwards Marsden delivers will fascinate serious students of American culture and history. Bryce Christensen Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "...demolishes the stereotype of Edwards as the purveyor of sadistic religion... handles complex ideas with brilliant clarity without oversimplifying." -- Christianity Today "A delight to lovers of religious biography and the history of revival... most comprehensive... surpasses others... shows [his] human side." -- Today's Pentecostal Evangel "[A] learned, lucid biography." -- Michael Kazin, The Nation "[T]he most comprehensive account . . . of the man who, as much as Benjamin Franklin . . . is the spiritual godfather of our nation." -- Robert D. Richardson, Washington Post "[This] accessible biography integrates [Edwards'] tumultuous ministerial career with his serenely logical mind... magisterial synthesis of Edwards' life and thought." -- Christopher D. Levenick, Clarmount Review of Books . . . . This mighty biography. . . . is a humble product of years of devoted. . . . scholarship. . . . Edwards. . . . would appreciate Mr. Marsden's dedication. . . . -- Evan Haeflli, Washington Times . . . . [An] authoritative new biography. . . . -- Jay Tolson, U.S. News & World Report . . . .[N]ot only the definitive biography but also a narrative that reads like a novel. . . . Edwards' magnificence shine[s] through. . . -- Edward T. Oakes, Commonweal A triumph of scholarship. . . . [and] readability. . . .[A] richly satisfying and interesting portrait of the man and his time. . . . -- Robert E. Brown, Times Literary Supplement [A] definitive biography. -- Dave Wood, River Falls (Wisc.) Journal Winner of the 2004 Bancroft Prize. "Marsden has brought together in a magisterial synthesis the details of the man s daily life and the range of ideas that challenged the assumptions of his time and ours." Edmund S. Morgan; "This is the finest biography of Edwards that I have read. It will be the standard benchmark for Edwards scholarship for generations to come." Harry S. Stout, Yale University George M. Marsden is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He has written numerous books, including The Soul of the American University and The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship.