JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE VISIBILITY OF GOD

by James P. Carse ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 1967

The author's avowed purpose in this study is to overturn the idea that Edwards was only another Calvinist, a European on foreign soil, and to show that he was an indigenous American. The chief struggle of his life was that of trying to establish a style of living appropriate to his time and place--America in the first half of the eighteenth century. As a Calvinist, he saw history as the unfolding of God's design, but he saw America as playing a significant and climactic part in that plan. He rejected the view that private judgment was supreme in religion and morals, holding that righteousness made itself visible. Within the framework suggested by such strokes as these, the author examines Edwards' work, linking it closely with the various scenes and stages of his life--Yale, Northampton, the Great Awakening, the last impoverished years as missionary to the Indians at Stockbridge. The result is an argument that will be understood best by scholars, although the style of the work makes for ready reading by the layman. The portrait is fresh and somewhat controversial.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION