My interest in Jonathan Edwards grew over the years from my reading and listening of pastor-theologian John Piper. So it was great pleasure I was looking forward to reviewing The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards by John Carrick.
Many thanks from the kind folks at Banner of Truth for this review copy:
A Summary:
Even an atheist like Perry Miller (1905-1963), Cabot Professor of American Literature at Harvard, characterized Jonathan Edwards as “America’s greatest genius and as a profound modern philosopher who happened to use Calvinistic categories” (p. 11) and “the greatest philosopher-theologian yet to grace the American scene” (p. 15).
It must be noted that “above all else” this New England divine was “a Calvinistic preacher-theologian” (p. 18). He was against the Hyper-Calvinism of his day (p. 3) and consistently put “great emphasis upon this responsibility of man, whether that of the sinner or of the saint” (p. 66).
In a time when both Rationalism and Deism held sway, the controlling idea that runs throughout his Works in “the concept of divine immediacy” (p. 23). The New England preacher was both “God-Centered” (pp. 21-41) and “Christ-Centered” (pp. 97-113) in his Works.
“Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God”:
Edwards had preached this now famous sermon before to his Northampton flock, in June, with little results. But, in July, during that Great Awakening of 1740-1742, Edwards would preached “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” to “impious Enfield.” It is said that “Before the sermon was ended, the assembly appeared deeply impressed and bowed down, with an awful conviction of their sin and danger” (pp. 51-52).
His Preparartion and Contents:
Edwards followed “the triadic Puritan from of Text, Doctrine, and Application” (p. 121). His “Doctrinal Exposition” would follow the classic Doctrine-Application of the Puritans (p. 132). The New England preacher-theologian was a master of illustrations. He would often draw them from Scripture and nature (p. 160). Edwards devoted great skill to his conclusions. He would deliberately use the second person in both the indicative and the imperative moods (p. 180). Regarding imagery, “he seems to have done more with imagery in composing his discourses than with any other device” (p. 191). His use of Scripture was masterful: “The vast majority of his sermons are characterized by a very judicious selection and a very well-integrated us of the Scriptures” (p. 234).
Motives, Style, and Delivery:
The New England preacher-theologian was dismissed by his Northampton church. On July 1, 1750, in his farewell address he said, “I have diligently endeavoured to find out and use the most power motives to persuade you to take care for you own welfare and salvation” (p. 375). In his style, Edwards had “a considerable internal struggle between the lure of academic and literary fame on the one hand and the call of Christ to preach the offence of the corss on the other” (p. 397). At first, read his sermons. But his grandfather Solomon Stoddard, who despised the reading of one’s sermons, encouraged Edwards to preach extemporaneously. The New England divine began to take that journey toward a more extemporaneous style.
The Spirit of God:
The New England preacher-theologian finest works came after he was removed from his Northampton flock and was serving as a missionary to the Stockbridge Indians. He penned Freedom of the Will (1754) and Original Sin (1758). Daniel Webster (1782-1852), the American lawyer, statesman, and orator, said that “Freedom of the Will by Mr. Edwards is the greatest achievement of the human intellect” (p. 449).
Edwards was especially Trinitarian. Regarding the Holy Spirit, he writes, “I have, many time, had a sense of the glory of the Third Person in the Trinity, his office as Sanctifier; in his holy operation, communicating divine light and life to the soul. God in the communication of his Holy Spirit, has appeared as an infinite fountain of divine glory and sweetness” (pp. 431-32). The New England divine believed Arminianism robs the Spirit of the glory due to his work and to his name. He charged Arminianism with being anti-trinitarian and deistic.
Jonathan Edwards Had Feet of Clay:
Much is to be admired of this New England preacher-theologian. But he had feet of clay. He was aloof, brittle, and unsociable. It is said that the only time his Northampton flock saw their minister was when he was in the pulpit. Some attribute his dismissal in 1750 to his poor personal skills. His people “had more than enough of their pastor’s aloof and austere ways and were glad to see the back of him” (p. 453). Edwards got up at four or five in the morning and would spend thirteen hours in his study.
Despite his feet of clay, Jonathan Ewards was used mightily by the God of heaven. In this fine book on The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards, John Carrick fittingly concludes about such a towering figure: “Once every few centuries the great God of heaven raises up in the church of Christ a man, the sheer brilliance of whose gifts appears to surpass all the light of all his immediate predecessors, contemporaries, and successors combined” (p. 460).
John Carrick is Associate Professor of Applied and Doctrinal Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Taylors, South Carolina.
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