New England Dogmatics : A Systematic Collection of Questions and Answers in Divinity by Maltby Gelston (1766-1865)

Jonathan Edwards’ (1703–58) ideas are among the most significant to the development of Reformed Theology in America. However brief the life of his intellection tradition, Edwards’ ideas and their reception remain an integral part of contemporary theological dialogue. Hitherto no work has appeared that sheds as much systematic light on the reception of Edwards’ ideas than Maltby Gelston’s (1766–1865) Systematic Collection of Questions and Answers in Divinity. As a ministerial aspirant under the tutelage of Jonathan Edwards the younger, Gelston received catechetical instruction through an exhaustive series of 313 questions, tailor made by early New England theologians. To this point, researches have mused over the significance of these questions and what they tell us about the development of the New England theological tradition. With the publication of this manuscript, researchers may now, for the first time, muse over the significance of Gelston’s answers.

Robert L. Boss is the Executive Director of JESociety.org. Joshua R. Farris is Assistant Professor of Theology and Director of The Academy at Houston Baptist University. He is also Henry Fellow at the Carl F.H. Henry Center, The Creation Project. S. Mark Hamilton is co-editor of and contributor to several academic works. He is a PhD candidate at the Free University of Amsterdam and a research associate at the JESociety.

Robert L. Boss is the Executive Director of JESociety.org.


Joshua R. Farris is Assistant Professor of Theology and Director of The Academy at Houston Baptist University. He is also Henry Fellow at the Carl F.H. Henry Center, The Creation Project.

S. Mark Hamilton is co-editor of and contributor to several academic works. He is a PhD candidate at the Free University of Amsterdam and a research associate at the JESociety.

Dr. Kenneth P. Minkema is the Executive Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, and Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School.