A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards (Library of Religious Biography (LRB)) - Softcover

Marsden, George M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802802206 ISBN 13: 9780802802200

Publisher: Eerdmans, 2008

Synopsis

Jonathan Edwards is one of the most extraordinary figures in American history. Arguably the most brilliant theologian ever born on American soil, Edwards (1703–1758) was also a pastor, a renowned preacher, a missionary to the Native Americans, a biographer, a college president, a philosopher, a loving husband, and the father of eleven children.

George M. Marsden -- widely acclaimed for his magisterial large study of Edwards -- has now written a new, shorter biography of this many-sided, remarkable man. A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards is not an abridgment of Marsden's earlier award-winning study but is instead a completely new narrative based on his extensive research. The result is a concise, fresh retelling of the Edwards story, rich in scholarship yet compelling and readable for a much wider audience, including students.

Known best for his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards is often viewed as a proponent of fire, brimstone, and the wrath of God. As Marsden shows, however, the focus of Edwards's preaching was not God's wrath but rather his overwhelming and all-encompassing love. Marsden also rescues Edwards from the high realms of intellectual history, revealing him more comprehensively through the lens of his everyday life and interactions. Further, Marsden shows how Edwards provides a window on the fascinating and often dangerous world of the American colonies in the decades before the American Revolution.

Marsden here gives us an Edwards who illumines both American history and Christian theology, an Edwards that will appeal to readers with little or no training in either field. This short life will contribute significantly to the widespread and growing interest in Jonathan Edwards. 

About this title

About the Author

George M. Marsden, Francis A. McAnaney Professor Emeritusof History at the University of Notre Dame, is currently ascholar in residence at Calvin College. Among his manyother books is the full-length biography JonathanEdwards: A Life (Yale 2003), which received nineawards, including the Bancroft Prize in history and theGrawemeyer Award in religion.

From AudioFile

Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards (most famous for the sermon "Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God") is not intended as an abridgment of his lengthier JONATHAN EDWARDS: A LIFE. Instead, it's meant to provide insight into Edwards's life and influence to a wider audience. Marsden places particular emphasis on the profound cultural and social shifts that were occurring during Edwards's life and how those shifts influenced his development as a man, scholar, and clergyman. Grover Gardner narrates with a crisp, businesslike attitude, which only works part of the time. He moves along swiftly, the prose buoying him up with clever anecdotes of Edwards's life. But at times Gardner sounds like he's simply reading the text, rather than narrating, a choice that sometimes makes Marsden's insightful, sensitive biography sound like a brittle history textbook. A.A. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0802802206
• ISBN 13: 9780802802200
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176