The Essential Jonathan Edwards: An Introduction to the Life and Teaching of America's Greatest Theologian

by Owen Strachan, Douglas Sweeney, John Piper (Foreword by)

Overview

You've heard his name, you've probably heard your pastor quote him, but who is he really?

250 years later, Jonathan Edwards, America’s consummate pastor-theologian, continues to capture the attention of Christians around the world. Yet Edwards left us over 1,200 sermons and thousands of pages of other publications, not to mention the literal thousands of books that have been written about Edwards since he died. Where does one even begin? That’s why we created The Essential Jonathan Edwards. It serves as a perfect introduction to Edwards’s life and thought. It explores Edwards day-to-day life, and his views on beauty, true Christianity, heaven and hell, and the good life. Strachan and Sweeney strike the perfect balance between necessary background information and giving Edwards’s own works room to speak.

Whether you’re an Edwards fan already or only know Edwards because of “that Angry God sermon,” this book will lead you to drink deeply of Scripture and gaze longingly at God. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802496706
Publisher:	Moody Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

OWEN STRACHAN is Associate Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the Director for the Center on Public Theology at MBTS. He holds a PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, an MDiv from Southern Seminary, and an AB from Bowdoin College. Strachan has published fourteen books and writes regularly for The Gospel Coalition, the Christian Post, and Thoughtlife, his Patheos blog. He is married and is the father of three children. Strachan hosts the City of God podcast available at https://cpt.mbts.edu.

DOUGLAS A. SWEENEY is Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought and Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He formerly served as a lecturer at Yale University, as an adjunct professor as Aquinas College, and as a visiting professor at both Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Reformed Theological Seminary. Sweeney is the author of a number of books and articles about religious history and the American theologian, Jonathan Edwards. He resides with his wife, Wilma, and their son in Lindenhurst, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Foreword Jonathan Edwards, God-Entranced Man 17

Part 1 Lover of God

1 A Happy Beginning 23

2 The Joys of New Birth 29

3 The Trials of a Young Man 39

4 Beholding the God of Grace 49

5 The Extraordinary Work 61

6 The Unseen Underworld 73

7 A Wilderness Errand 85

8 The Passing of a Great Man 99

Part 2 Beauty

9 The Beauty of God 115

10 The Beauty of Creation 131

11 The Beauty of Christ 147

12 The Beauty of the Church 163

13 The Beauty of the Trinitarian Afterlife 177

Part 3 The Good Life

14 The Nearness of the Good Life 195

15 The Distance of the Good Life 213

16 The Taste for the Good Life 229

17 The Pleasures of the Good Life 245

18 The Shape of the Good Life 263

Part 4 True Christianity

19 The Problem of Nominal Christianity in Edwards's Day 281

20 Edwards's Answer to Nominal Christianity 301

21 Powerful Examples of True Christianity 319

22 Edwards's Dismissal and the Contemporary Call to True Christianity 335

Part 5 Heaven and Hell

23 The Disappearance of the Afterlife 351

24 The Frightening Prospect of Hell 373

25 The Glorious Prospect of Heaven 395

26 The Transforming Power of an Eternity-Focused Mindset 417

Works Cited 429

Recommended Resources 435

Acknowledgments 439