The Federal Theology Of Jonathan Edwards

The Christ-centered exegesis of Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards is remembered for his sermons and works of theology and philosophy--but he has been overlooked as an exegete. Gilsun Ryu's The Federal Theology of Jonathan Edwards explores how exegesis drove Edwards's focus on the headship of Christ as second Adam--and likewise formed a foundation for his broader theological reasoning and writing, especially on Christ and the covenants. Edwards's distinctive emphases on exegesis, redemptive history, and the harmony of Scripture distinguish him from his Reformed forebears. Ryu's study will help readers appreciate Edwards's contribution as an exegetically informed Reformed theologian.

As a theologian in the Reformed tradition, covenant theology was for Jonathan Edwards the internal scaffolding that gave shape to the biblical story of redemption. The establishment of the eternal rule of righteousness as the basis of the believer's communion with God and eternal happiness is a central theme beginning with the Covenant of Works, grounded in the eternal Covenant of Redemption, and culminating in the Covenant of Grace. It is the basis for the law-gospel distinction in Edwards and the early architects of federal theology. For the "God intoxicated" New England Puritan preacher, this was no dry academic exercise. Rather, it was a joyous and affectionate discovery and embrace of what God had ordained in eternity, what Christ accomplished in history on the cross, and what the Holy Spirit is doing and will complete in the church. This study grew out of current discussions in Reformed scholarship questioning aspects of traditional covenant theology. As a key transitional figure in the history of Reformed theology, Edwards's thinking is still relevant. The richness and depth of Edwards's vision of redemptive history provides a clear and comprehensive understanding of his Reformed soteriology and the role of evangelical obedience in justification.

"... the Edwards of Cherry sits for a[n]... intellectual portrait, done with concepts as colors and with reason as the brush. It is a... picture... faithfully and competently drawn." -- New York Times Book Review, 1967 "... this is a very good book.... It stresses the integral relationship of heart and mind, intellect and will throughout Edwards.... an important book... required reading for any student of Edwards." -- Church History, 1967

This dissertation offers a reading of an overarching interpretive framework--the doctrinal harmony of the Bible--within which Jonathan Edwards attempted to understand the history of redemption. By examining similarities and differences between Edwards' federal theology and that of several sixteenth and seventeenth-century Reformed antecedents, it illuminates the distinctiveness of his thought in comparison with his Reformed forebears. Although Edwards shares with Reformed theologians such as Cocceius, Witsius, Mastricht, and Turretin the basic redemptive historical aspect of salvation, Edwards' emphasis on the redemptive historical theme as a necessary element of his biblical exegesis reflects a development of the federal theology. In probing Edwards' doctrine of the covenants of redemption, works, and grace, it becomes evident that Edwards' view of the history of redemption differs from that of Reformed orthodoxy. An example of this is found in his doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Edwards is bolder than the above representatives of Reformed orthodoxy in exploring the roles of the persons of the Trinity in the covenant of redemption. Edwards claims that Reformed orthodoxy's emphasis on only the Father and the Son as the agents of the covenant of redemption tends to weaken the role of the Holy Spirit. For Edwards, the Holy Spirit is not merely the deliverer of the benefit of the covenant of redemption, but is also the gift himself. The same is true for Edwards' doctrine of the covenant of works. While Edwards shares Reformed orthodoxy's understanding of the relationship between the law and the gospel, and of the Mosaic covenant as a new exhibition of the covenant of works, the difference between Edwards' and his Reformed forebears' understanding of the laws in the Mosaic covenant illumines Edwards' distinctive emphasis on the historical reality of salvation. Similarly, Edwards' focus on the historical perspective of salvation in his doctrine of the covenant of grace reveals that there is a similar but significant difference between the redemptive historical themes of Edwards and his Reformed forebears. This dissertation originates in direct response to the differences between Edwards and his predecessors mentioned above. While Edwards never wrote about his federal theology in a systematic manner, he drew his federal theology from exegetical principles which are based on his understanding of the Scriptural description of salvation. Edwards' understanding of the redemptive historical theme in the covenants of redemption, works, and grace consistently leads us to perceive Edwards' exegetical basis for his federal theology. Although the history of redemption functions as a significant motif for his federal theology, Edwards' use of various exegetical methods reveals that Edwards perceived a broader frame--the doctrinal harmony of the Bible--within which the redemptive historical theme lies. Edwards' key development with respect to redemptive history lies in the establishment of the consistent paradigm of the historical aspect of salvation through his insistence upon the doctrinal harmony of Scripture. Edwards' interpretive framework for understanding the history of redemption is examined in chapters exploring Edwards0́9 exegetical foundation for the covenants of redemption, works, and grace, and in a chapter on his ecclesiology. The analysis presented here strongly suggests that, as Edwards uses the doctrinal harmony of the Bible as the basis for his understanding of the history of redemption, Edwards appreciates the importance of biblical exegesis more than the systematic approaches of his Reformed forebears.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is widely regarded as North America's most influential theologian. Throughout the early decades of his ministry he engaged in a public and sustained debate with 'Arminian' theology, a crusade that contributed significantly to the events of the Great Awakening. This book investigates the contours and substance of this theological war. In establishing a clearer historical context for this polemic, McClenahan seeks to overturn the scholarly consensus that Edwards' own theology was a twisting of the Reformed tradition. By demonstrating that Edwards' interlocutor was the dead English Archbishop, John Tillotson, McClenahan provides the hermeneutical key for many of Edwards' most significant works. Justification by faith is one of the most contested doctrines in contemporary theology and Jonathan Edwards, referred to as America's Augustine, wrote extensively on this area. His is a voice that many people are keen to hear.

The Christ-centered exegesis of Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards is remembered for his sermons and works of theology and philosophy--but he has been overlooked as an exegete. Gilsun Ryu's The Federal Theology of Jonathan Edwards explores how exegesis drove Edwards's focus on the headship of Christ as second Adam--and likewise formed a foundation for his broader theological reasoning and writing, especially on Christ and the covenants. Edwards's distinctive emphases on exegesis, redemptive history, and the harmony of Scripture distinguish him from his Reformed forebears. Ryu's study will help readers appreciate Edwards's contribution as an exegetically informed Reformed theologian.

Recently, the immanent Trinity (God as in himself) has been criticized as abstract and impractical as opposed to the economic Trinity (God in relation to the world). Many scholars argue that the immanent Trinity is detached from the real life of believers and God's economic work of redemption and thus abstract and impractical. But is this assumption itself really true? What if the blueprint of God's work of redemption is already located in the immanent Trinity as the divine idea? What if Jonathan Edwards, arguably the American greatest theologian, expounds this doctrine as a vital driving force in his theology? Rediscovering the doctrine of the covenant of redemption will help us to see that the immanent Trinity actually is not abstract, but highly practical, simply because the redemption of the believers hinges on the divine plan located there. This study is a fruit of the recent convergence of the resurging doctrine of the Trinity and the renaissance of studies of Jonathan Edwards.

Biblical truth in the hands of Edwards lives mightily. Edwards in the hand of Peter Doyle comes alive. As we see an anemic Christendom today in its witness, ethics, and influence, we find the correctives and the guidance we need in the works of Jonathan Edwards––revivalist preacher, philosopher, and theologian. In this insightful book, former pastor and missionary Peter Doyle presents Edwards’ theology in a comprehensive scope: in its cultural context, against its adversaries, and with all its practical and pastoral implications. Doyle paints for readers a clear picture of how Edwards understands the ‘new birth.’ A cursory treatment of being born again this is not. The great revivals under Edwards’ preaching gave to the converts a sense of the glory of God, their own sinfulness, and a humility before the sacrifice of Christ for their sin.

Winner of the 2013 Christianity Today Book Award for Theology/Ethics Scholars and laypersons alike regard Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) as North America's greatest theologian. The Theology of Jonathan Edwards is the most comprehensive survey of his theology yet produced and the first study to make full use of the recently-completed seventy-three-volume online edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards. The book's forty-five chapters examine all major aspects of Edwards's thought and include in-depth discussions of the extensive secondary literature on Edwards as well as Edwards's own writings. Its opening chapters set out Edwards's historical and personal theological contexts. The next thirty chapters connect Edwards's theological loci in the temporally-ordered way in which he conceptualized the theological enterprise-beginning with the triune God in eternity with his angels to the history of redemption as an expression of God's inner reality ad extra, and then back to God in eschatological glory. The authors analyze such themes as aesthetics, metaphysics, typology, history of redemption, revival, and true virtue. They also take up such rarely-explored topics as Edwards's missiology, treatment of heaven and angels, sacramental thought, public theology, and views of non-Christian religions. Running throughout the volume are what the authors identify as five basic theological constituents: trinitarian communication, creaturely participation, necessitarian dispositionalism, divine priority, and harmonious constitutionalism. Later chapters trace his influence on and connections with later theologies and philosophies in America and Europe. The result is a multi-layered analysis that treats Edwards as a theologian for the twenty-first-century global Christian community, and a bridge between the Christian West and East, Protestantism and Catholicism, conservatism and liberalism, and charismatic and non-charismatic churches.

A select, annotated bibliography which attempts to include all published books, chapters in books, articles, dissertations, and monographs on the Milton of preachers. An introduction is included.