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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 285.8092
EAN num: 9780521618052
ISBN number: 0521618053
Label: Cambridge University Press
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 398
Printing Date: November 20, 2006
Publishing house: Cambridge University Press
Sale Popularity Level: 792765
Studio: Cambridge University Press
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Long recognized as 'America's theologian', Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is seen as instrumental in the Great Awakening of the 1740s that gripped much of New England and that laid the groundwork for an American Protestant religious identity. This Cambridge Companion offers a general, comprehensive introduction to Jonathan Edwards and examines his life and works from various disciplinary perspectives including history, literature, theology, religious studies, and philosophy. The book consists of seventeen chapters written by leading religious scholars, historians and literary critics on Edwards' life, work, and legacy. The Companion will be an invaluable aid to teachers and scholars and will be imminently accessible to those just encountering Edwards for the very first time.
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I read somewhere that the essay by George Marsden "Biography" included in this edited volume is itself worth the price of the book. That may be true, but thankfully we don't have to make that decision. The remaining essays also contribute solidly to the value of the work.
ORGANIZATION: After an introductory overview by the editor Stephen J. Stein, the sixteen essays that constitute the body of the text are organized into three sections: "Edward's Life and Context," "Edward's Roles and Achievements" and "Edward's Legacy and Reputation." Each essay is written by an established Edwards scholar, many of whom have been directly involved in the ongoing production of the Yale Edition of "The Works of Jonathan Edwards" - a project nearing completion in published volumes, and now with a companion interactive web site.
PERSPECTIVE: This volume reflects the very best of current Edwards research. The fact that it is complete with footnotes, index, and bibliography will allow it to be an excellent springboard for further study. Most refreshing, perhaps, is the fact that although it is scholarly it is consistently sympathetic to its subject. Absent, thankfully, are the kind of polemics and caricatures of Edwards (and his times) that are the bane of lesser works on the subject. Even the last essay "Edwards and Social Issues" which explicitly seeks to view the subject from the perspective of "class, age, gender, sex, and race" - and could have been a train wreck from a lesser hand - turns out to be an interesting, informative, and fair treatment by its author Ava Chamberlain.
INDIVIDUAL ESSAYS: Favorites entries will depend on one's interests. The whole very first section was sparkling for me, as were a number of the other essays. Even though the entries are of a consistently high quality, there are some challenges to the reader related primarily to the fact that this is a collection of individual essays. For example, two or three of the essays in the final section seem to overlap in coverage and, as a result, that portion may drag a little for the reader. Also, occasionally the content of an essay does not seem to perfectly match the assigned title. The best example may be Harry Stout's "Edwards as Revivalist." While extremely rewarding, this essay actually focuses on the narrative theology of Jonathan Edwards as presented in his epic "A History of the Work of Redemption" - a subject only tangentially related to religious revival. Finally, Stephen Daniel's entry "Edwards as Philosopher" is fascinating but, frankly, beyond my capacity to understand on very first reading. Perhaps if Daniel employed more analogies - the stock in trade of the philosophy teacher - he could have made Edwards' philosophy more comprehensible to the non-specialist.
With this volume in hand, what I need to do now is to turn afresh to the study of the primary texts - that is, the works of Jonathan Edwards himself. We have a lot to learn here. As C. S. Lewis wrote in advocating the reading of great works from the past, "People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the SAME mistakes."
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