Jonathan Edwards: America's Evangelical

By Philip F. Gura

Book Overview

An important new biography of America's founding religious father. Jonathan Edwards was America's most influential evangelical, whose revivals of the 1730s became those against which all subsequent ones have been judged. The marvelous accomplishment of Philip Gura's Jonathan Edwards is to place the rich intellectual landscape of America's most formidable evangelical within the upheaval of his times. Gura not only captures Edwards' brilliance but respectfully explains the enduring appeal of his theology: in a world of profound uncertainty, it held out hope of an authentic conversion---the quickening of the indwelling spirit of God in one's heart and the consequent certitude of Godly behavior and everlasting grace. Tracing Jonathan Edwards' life from his birth in 1703 to his untimely death in 1758, Gura magnificently reasserts Edwards rightful claim as the father of America's evangelical tradition.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809061961
• ISBN13: 9780809061969
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Hill & Wang
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Edwards on adult conversion

Philip Gura provides an enjoyable, concise biography of this American original -- a brilliant man who understood the need for personal conversion. Edwards rejected a dry orthodoxy that does not produce personal repentence and faith. Gura shows Edwards' consistant stand that people must actively respond to God -- both intellectually and emotionally. Otherwise we remain in our natural state -- unforgiven -- sinners in the hands of the moral law.