The Thought of Jonathan Edwards - Hardcover

by Miklos Veto (Author), Philip Choinière-Shields (Translator), Harry S. Stout (Foreword by)

Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian of colonial America as well as its first important philosopher. As a theologian, he represents without any concession Calvinistic Orthodoxy, re-thought and re-lived through the experience of the Great Awakening. The large majority of his writings are of a theological character, yet this theology is articulated and expressed through a systematic philosophical reflection. Edwardsian thought covers three major areas: First, being, grace, and glory; then, the doctrine of the will extending to the study of the original sin and evil; finally, an entirely original theory of knowledge synthesizing spirituality, aesthetics, and epistemology. The present book, the first edition of which appeared in French almost thirty years ago, is a uniquely comprehensive study of the work of Jonathan Edwards. It discusses all the aspects of his thought over against the background of classical Protestant theology and of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Western philosophy. Our time witnesses a significant renewal of interest in Jonathan Edwards. Professor Veto's book should prove to be a major contribution to assist and to guide the readers of "America's Theologian."

Author Biography

Miklos Vető (1936-2020) is a Hungarian-born French philosopher who taught successively at Marquette, Yale, Abidjan, Rennes, and Poitiers Universities. Widely known as a historian of German Idealism, his works have been translated into many languages. He is the author of The Religious Metaphysics of Simone Weil and The Expansion of Metaphysics.