Ask anyone who the great
figures in the history of American philosophy are and that person probably will
offer the following list of people: Franklin, Jefferson, James, Peirce, Dewey,
Santayana, Quine, and Putnam. At least one prominent philosopher-theologian is
missing from this list — Jonathan Edwards. Few people recognize the influence
of Edwards. Why is this? He affected many people during his lifetime, and his
work influenced several generations of Americans prior to the end of the Civil
War. The scope of his work, which ranged from the natural sciences to
philosophy and religion, is one reason he was so influential. Following the
war, Edwards’s reputation diminished. Nevertheless, we should include the
author of the famous pamphlet "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
among the greatest intellectual minds in the history of America. George M. Marsden’s
biography, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, tells an interesting story of
Edwards’s intellectual, social, and family life that attempts to rejuvenate
interest in Edwards’s work.

The publication of Marsden’s
biography coincides with the tercentenary celebration of Edwards’s birth in
1703. Several events have commemorated Edwards’s philosophical and theological
contributions, including a conference in his hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts
and another in Washington, D.C. Marsden’s biography reveals a great
intellectual figure in pre-revolutionary America whose influence is
far-reaching.   Arguably, Edwards’ greatest impact was in theology, but his
upbringing and his work at Yale tell a different story.

The biography details Edwards’
intellectual development from his early childhood until his untimely death in
1758. From an early age, Edwards was a prolific writer. Edwards was among the
first to attend and graduate from Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. Many
of his friends and colleagues were classmates or alumni from Yale. Marsden
describes Edwards’s role in the development of Yale’s philosophical and
theological studies. He was among the first Yale students, and first Americans
for that matter, to read John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Although he never wrote a critical essay on John Locke’s philosophy, we can see
that Edwards’ views were similar to Locke’s. For example, Edwards and Locke
agreed that the question whether the will is free is misunderstood. Both
Edwards and Locke argued that the question should not be about whether the will
is free but whether man is free. The will is not itself an agent. Edwards’s
familiarity with Locke’s work propelled him into the spotlight of great
thinkers in America. Despite most of Edwards’ work being philosophically oriented,
much of his work reflects divine inspiration.

Edwards’ dependence on divinity
was the result of a mentor-protégé relationship he had with Solomon Stoddard.
During the mid-eighteenth century, Solomon Stoddard was the most respected
clergyman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Stoddard had one son who was
supposed to continue Solomon’s religious work; however, Stoddard’s son, John,
main concern was protecting colonists from Indian insurgents. He became a
soldier and earned the rank of colonel. Living in colonial America was a
dangerous affair. Frequent Indian attacks ended with people losing their lives
in horrific ways. John Stoddard protected the colonists and dedicated his time
assisting in improving relations with Native Americans. Since John Stoddard was
primarily a soldier-missionary, this allowed Jonathan Edwards to inherit
Solomon Stoddard’s religious legacy. With this avenue open to Edwards, he
became the leader of a revolution known as the Awakening.

The Awakening was the result of
an earth-moving experience — literally. For a long time, religious clergymen
had warned parishioners of the impending judgment day. Most of the parishioners
dismissed warnings of judgment as religious zealotry. In a matter of minutes,
these dismissals were extinguished. An earthquake shook New England in the
winter of 1727. Marsden writes, "Many New Englanders regarded the quake as
a warning of worse judgments to come. The Massachusetts governor called for a
day of repentance and fasting for Thursday, December 21, and in Northampton,
Edwards delivered the fast-day sermon." (p. 121) The Awakening had begun.
From this moment onwards, Edwards was at the forefront of the religious
Awakening.

Edwards’ life ended prematurely,
which makes us ask the question, "what might have been should he have
lived longer?" He died in 1758 of complications resulting from a small pox
inoculation. Edwards had led a remarkable life. He had been a pastor of a
prominent church in New England, an originator of one of the greatest religious
revolutions in history, and the President of a young college in New Jersey — Princeton.
Much of his mature intellectual work remained unpublished until after his
death. His work does not imitate any prior person in the history of philosophy.
He was a very original thinker. Marsden says it best, "Edwards was so
enamored with seeing the eternal significance of human history that his "entire
new method" not only ran counter to the Deist trends of the age but also
departed from the traditional deductive-logical method… Although Edwards
yielded to no one in utilizing rational deductive arguments, he was determined
that a true view of universal reason must include historical knowledge
as well as deductive. Hence his grand comprehensive theology would not imitate
the forms used by Thomas Aquinas or even the Reformed systematizers such as
Francis Turretin or Peter van Mastricht, but rather it would imitate Scripture
itself." (p. 488) Clearly, Edwards was a tremendous figure who created his
own niche in the history of early intellectual America.

This is the first full-scale
critical biography of Edwards in 60 years. Marsden’s biography represents the
re-awakening of great scholarship on the works, life, and influence of Jonathan
Edwards. Biographies usually target a general audience and lose the rigor an
academic requires for use in the classroom. This biography is an exception to
this rule. The book is accessible to a general audience, but it does not
surrender rigor for academic use. Marsden offers a balanced perspective on
Edwards who was clearly a great figure in the history of early America and in
the history of western philosophy.

© 2003 Joseph W. Ulatowski