Editor’s Note: This continues Rev. Dr. Phil Corr’s contributions on the Life of Jonathan Edwards, America’s first theologian and – by many estimates – still the best. As people in the United Church of Christ discern their future, it may be wise to return to one of the UCC’s unheralded “firsts” – the theological thought of Jonathan Edwards to draw strength, find a renewed identity as reformation Christians, and, most importantly renew our identities as those who delight ourselves through worship and service in the perfections of the Triune God in whom Jonathan Edwards delights .
By Phil Corr (c) 2007
One of the best discussions of the history of the scholarship on Jonathan Edwards is found on pages 76 through 79 of Stephen J. Stein’s critical “Editor’s Introduction” to The Blank Bible, part one.
Soon after Edwards’ death in 1758, both primary sources (written works having been written by Edwards during his lifetime) and secondary sources (written works about Edwards’ life and works) found their way into publication in both America and elsewhere. Samuel Hopkins–a protégé of Edwards’–wrote two groundbreaking works in 1765. In 1788 and 1796 Jonathan Edwards, Jr. published works by his fathers.
In the nineteenth century, Congregational and other missionaries were influenced by the life and literary production of Edwards. Also during the nineteenth century a number of multiple multivolume editions of Edwards’ Works were published.
During the nineteen century (and as far back as his lifetime) opposition to Edwards arose. As can be rightly said, dissenting judgments arose alongside “the positive accounts of Edwards’ life and writings.” (Stein, op cit., p. 77)
The venom towards Edwards increased during the first half of the seventieth century and lingers in popular thought with most people (if they think of Edwards at all) speaking of his “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon when asked to name something by Edwards.
The scholarly world did, however, begin to turn toward appreciative neutrality during the middle of the twentieth century. “In 1937 H. Richard Niebuhr featured Edwards’ understanding of the sovereignty of God as an anticipation of Neo-Orthodox theology in his classic study of American Christianity.” [The Kingdom of God in America]
“In 1940 Ola Elizabeth Winslow wrote a prize-winning biography of Edwards, depicting him as a man of immense interest and complexity.” [Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758] “And in 1949, in perhaps the most significant study of Edwards ever written, Perry Miller declared him a gifted and perceptive intellectual, a modern thinker whose ideas shaped the American experience.” [Jonathan Edwards] (Stein, p. 78)
As Stein points out, these “three thinkers contributed to the rising wave of interest in Edwards during the second half of the twentieth century, a scholarly surge that cut across theological, intellectual, disciplinary, and interpretive lines.”
This “new scholarship” led to many writings, including so many doctoral dissertations that an entire book has been published containing only paragraph summaries of dissertations on sermons.
Each editor’s introduction of the 25 volume Yale Edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards contains references to dissertations on the topic (and sub topics!) at hand in each volume. Similarly, in his Jonathan Edwards: A Life, George Marsden cites dissertations relevant to whatever theme he is examining on a given page (for instance: in footnote 26 on page 599, Marsden cites three dissertation-based works and a fourth that is a book by an established professor of church history).
The Jonathan Edwards Project is bringing the scholarship on Edwards well into the twentieth century. It has as a goal to eventually put all of Edwards’ writings (especially his unpublished letters and sermons) digitally online. Housed at the Yale Divinity School, it was officially opened in October 2004, on the three hundredth anniversary of Jonathan Edwards’ birth.
The mission of the JEC is to “provide online and offline learning environments that encourage critical appraisal of the life and thought of America’s premier theologian.” At least 25,000 pages of Edwards’ works are online, with another 35,000 pages going online soon. This would constitute approximately 70 percent of Edwards’ extant writings.
The JEC’s critical appraisal of a premier theologian continues the appreciative neutrality mentioned earlier. Similarly, the Yale press Works do not gratuitously tear down the life and works. One will, however, find the occasional politically correct sentences that editors feel the need to include. When this happens, I call to mind “Corr’s Golden Rule of History”: “Judge those in the past with the same charity you hope those in the future will judge you!”
In other words–with Jonathan Edwards or anyone else–seek to understand the person in the context of the life and times of the person being considered. It is quite possible to practice objective scholarship while having an existential–and, yes, appreciative–interest in your subject.
Look for a gap in the scholarship, pursue the research, and write! Jonathan Edwards provides a nearly inexhaustible opportunity for scholarly research. Even previously examined topics can be revisited–especially with the new search techniques and primary source availability. As you read–and perhaps write!–may you deepen your appreciation for “America’s premier theologian.”
Phil Corr’s work on the web can be seen at: haystack06.org and fccofcc.com
