Rating: 
Summary: Does Author Like His Subject?
Review: I was disappointed in this book. Marsden has a great reputation, and Edwards is a colossus in American history. So I expected Marsden to help explain Edwards' vast appeal and influence. Instead I found a measured, slightly negative treatment of the subject. Little sense of drama or excitement. It appears that Marsden has mixed feelings about Edwards, and unfortunately it taints the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, balanced, and unbiased look at a legendary man
Review: In a word: This biography is fair, deeply inspiring, and so well written it is hard to put it down! Jonathon Edwards led a fascinating spiritual and physical life. He is a subject that this author chose carefully and treats with great consideration of the period in which Edwards and his family lived. A WONDERFUL, ENGROSSING WORK OF ART!
Rating:
Summary: A serious look at Edwards' life and times.
Review: In introducing his biography of Jonathan Edwards, George Marsden writes, "My aspiration... is to make Edwards intelligible to widely diverse audiences by first attempting to depict him in his own time and in his own terms." Marsden achieved his goal, and it was a goal that was critical to making a great biography of Jonathan Edwards, something this book most definitely is.
Jonathan Edwards is easily one of the most intelligent and important figures in American history. He comes as close as any other American thinker to being a true, Western, classical philosopher. His most famous discourse on the nature of the human will, "Freedom of the Will" as it is commonly known, is one of the greatest contributions to that several millenia old debate. And while Marsden is a good story-teller and great at developing the culture and general worldview that shaped the setting in which the events of Edwards' life took place, it is when he is summarizing Edwards' theosophy that he truly excels in this book. (Summarizing Edwards' theological and philosophical arguments is not an easy task by any stretch and has so often been done incorrectly, whether accidentally or intentionally.)
Edwards, the grandson of another famous Colonial American pastor, Solomon Stoddard, lived a pretty normal and uneventful life, even for most religiously pious puritans in 18th Century New England. While he was clearly blessed with a sharp intellect and a strong drive to succeed that was recognizable from early on in his life, he never fought in any wars, never had any major scandals in his life (whether committed by himself or those close to him), was a responsible, slightly overbearing student while in college at Yale, and lived what was just simply as holy a life as would seem to be humanly possible. This doesn't make for an exciting biographical subject, but Marsden does a great job creating a story that allows the reader to meet Edwards but also gain a deep understanding of an often overlooked place and time in American history that were fundamental to laying the cultural foundation for what became the United States of America. It's nearly impossible for 21st Century Americans to place themselves in the mindset of an 18th Century New Englander, so many of the former group simply dismiss the beliefs of the latter as a mere historical footnote. As Marsden writes, to the New Englander of that time the premise of hell "was as genuine a reality as China." Try explaining that to a 21st Century Westerner and then getting them to take seriously, on an intellectual level, the worldview of an entire region of adherents to such a belief. Yet the generation raised by Jonathan Edwards and his generally like-minded (generally Calvinist) peers would later set in motion a project that would result in the most powerful nation in the history of the planet Earth. To dismiss or flippantly mock the core beliefs of the fathers and teachers of such a nation's creators is to do nothing but brag of one's own ignorance.
Marsden clearly realizes how big a mistake it is to do this, so he has worked very hard to understand exactly what it was that Jonathan Edwards believed and was arguing. It is in the sections where Marsden is presenting Edwards' theology that this otherwise good biography becomes excellent. Marsden, on Edwards' view of the will and its freedom:
"In Edwards' view the only sensible way to talk of the free will was that one is free to do what one wants to do. That was also, he said, the common sense meaning of freedom. 'Let the person come by his volition or choice how he will, yet, if he is able, and there is nothing in the way to hinder his pursuing and executing his will, the man is fully and perfectly free, according to the primary and common notion of freedom.' If having free will, then, meant being free to do what wanted to do, that was another way of saying that one was free to follow one's own strongest motive. Choosing and acting freely could not mean anything other than that one was free to follow one's own strongest inclinations. The alternative, said Edwards, that there was an agent called the 'will' inside us that was free not to follow our own strongest inclination, is absurd."
This is an excellent biography and as close to a "must-read" for fans of historical American leaders as one will find.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy author for so great an American
Review: Jonathan Edwards was not just one of the greatest Americans of the 18th century - he was, arguably, but I think convincingly, one of the greatest Americans of all time - and someone with a wide influence in places like Britain as well as the nascent American country. You cannot really understand the intellectual development of the American colonies, nor grasp the wonderful way in which God worked in revival, unless you fully come to grips with the true greatness of the polymathic Jonathan Edwards. George Marsden is by far one of the ablest Christian writers in the USA today and this book has deservedly come out to rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. This is a truly great, definitive book and it cannot be recommended too highly. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Jonathan Edwards was probably the most impressive American intellectual of the 18th century. Not the best known, which would be Benjamin Franklin, or the most influential, which would be James Madison, but the individual with most impressive intellect and purely intellectual achievements. Edwards' reputation today suffers because he was on the losing side, so to speak, of a pair of particularly important developments in American life. In the Great Awakening that inaugurated modern American religous life, Edwards was an outspoken proponent of revivalism, but the ultimate emergence of a more democratic and less organized form of Protestantism ran counter to his essentially conservative form of Calvinism. Edwards' conservative Calvinism led him also to oppose the rationalistic philosophy and theology of the Enlightenment that came to be such an important element of American life. One of the great virtues of this outstanding biography is that it gives readers a vivid and unanachronistic understanding of how this powerful intellect ended up reaffirming doctrines that were coming to be regarded as outmoded by so many of his contemporaries. Marsden shows Edwards' development as the son and grandson of learned Puritan clergymen, his immersion in the complicated theology of his branch of Calvinism, and his encounters with new intellectual currents emanating from Europe. Marsden does a particularly good job of connecting Edwards' thought with the interesting circumstances of his social position. Edwards was a child of the Puritan establishment of Colonial New England. Edwards grew up at the apex of a rural society whose social organiztion was based on deference, with social position shaped by personal and family relationships to an extent largely unknown in modern society (though there are exceptions; see George Bush). He was embedded in a strongly patriarchal family structure, with religion occupying a central position in society that would have been unusual even in contemporary Europe. Edwards also inherited an intense sense of being part of a larger British and Protestant world. The colonial New England of Edwards' time was not, however, impervious to outside influences. The Puritans placed great emphasis on education, particularly for clergy, and by Edwards' youth, many Puritan clergy were familiar with intellectual developments in Europe. Edwards was influenced by Locke's epistemology, was familiar with the work of Newton and later assimilated Newton into his theological work, and had a more positive view of the natural world than his 17th Puritan forebears. He remained connected with European intellectual trends throughout his life. It clear that he read Hume's Treatise at a time when it was ignored by most European intellectuals.
The combination of his Puritan heritage and receptivity to new ideas makes Edwards a peculiarly transitional figure. His life's work was to defend the sophisticated but demanding Calvinist theology and eschatology of his ancestors. In so doing, he would incorporate Newton and borrow ideas from Locke, Hutcheson, and other philosophers of the Enlightenment. He was an advocate of the Great Awakening that broke the fragile unity of New England Protestantism but but was unsympathetic to its increasingly influential anti-establishment elements. Edwards produced a number of impressive treatises defending his views, though he did not live long enough to complete all his projected theological works. If he had lived longer, he would have been the most systematic theologian since Aquinas.
Marsden's biography is not just an account and exploration of Edwards' ideas. Given the limited documentation about Edwards' personal life, this is also the story of Edwards' family life and pastoral work. It is remarkable that a man who produced thousands of pages of written work was also an active minister serving a substantial congregation. Edwards also devoted a good part of each day to contemplative activities. This book is valuable also because it casts light on many important features of American history. Marsden's goal is to tell Edwards' story in a way that will illuminate Colonial America in the first half of 18th century. This book is instructive about religion, family life, education, Native American relations, and colonial politics. For example, there is a brief but very interesting section on Edwards' attitude towards slavery. This is an ambitious and superb piece of scholarship.
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Summary: Not just a story of a great man, but a story of America.
Review: Marsden's book on Edwards is EXTREMELY important. In contrast with other biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Marsden paints not only a picture of a different man, but he also paints a portrait of a different America. Franklin represents the fully modern, secularist America, tempered by a practically utilitarian view of God. Edwards represents the finest Puritan vision of America as a model society founded on the principles of explict, heart-felt and biblical faith. Franklin welcomes the rationalism of the Enlightenment lock, stock, and barrel. Edwards in his Calvinism cautiously dialogues with modernism, quarrels within himself over the challenges of the Enlightenment, and yet in the final analysis rejects anything that veers away from enjoying the sweetness of God's presence in submitting to His absolute sovereignty . Unfortunately, the autonomy of Franklin's vision of human freedom bristles at the confidence of Edwards' vision of God's transcedence. Hence, we have two Americas: a largely secularist ethos valuing human freedom, and a throughly evangelical and triumphial quest for a Christian nation. Every significant debate we have in our culture today -- from abortion to terrorism to feminism to gay marrage -- they all have their roots in the conflict between the worlds of Franklin and Edwards. Yet I would venture that most Americans today -- even most American evangelicals today -- stand somewhere between Franklin and Edwards. Sadly though, we hear more about Franklin than we do Edwards, and the vision of Franklin's America is clearly winning out. This is tragic since Edwards shatters the myth that all conservative Christians are anti-intellectuals or narrow-minded bigots. I really admire Edwards, but I must confess that I am still troubled by him. How was he able to really see the "sweetness" of God's presence in view of Calvinism's doctrine of God's inscrutable decrees? Marsden discusses this, but I wish there were more details there that addressed Edwards' change from being "horrified" by God's decrees to seeing something of the grand "sweetness" of God in them. Edwards made his case well regarding his understanding of biblical faith, but he has not convinced everyone -- not the secularist nor even many evangelical Christians. Nevertheless, Edwards was certainly more right than he was wrong. We would do well to study him and learn what moved him passionately to write with conviction and clarity what he did.
Rating:
Summary: Informed, insightful, excellent!
Review: More than just hero worship, this biography showed me things I loved and hated about this great philosopher-theologian. Marsden does a good job of presenting Edwards in the 18th century New England context to which he belonged. If you love Edwards, this biography will help show you his strengths in a fair way. If you approach this disliking Edwards somewhat - Marsden paints this puritan in an honest light that helps the reader understand his perspective without whitewashing his shortcomings.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware of Puritanism
Review: The Puritans were probably the most spiritually and emotionally abusive people in Church history. Most of the people interested in reading this book are probably Reformed (or Calvinistic) in their belief system and so this review will most likely fall on deaf ears, but take my word on this: Reformed theology, especially Puritanism of any brand, is devastating to any spiritual life. All the "holiness" and "love" is exterior in nature and leaves the soul barren, cold, intolerant, and abusive to anything other than its own narrow view of life. I know. I used to be a Puritan of puritans, zealously devoted to the "Reformed Faith" and the Puritanical life and interpretation of the bible. It nearly sucked all the life out of me. Puritan people are not joyous people. They only find joy in their completely restricted views of life and small bands of like-minded friends (who themselves are, generally speaking, intolerant, cold, and unhappy). They can't see the misery that they are in and the only real joy that they have is their own style of misery. I've experienced this first hand for many years and know many who are still bound in their happy misery. Please don't scoff. I know that you are, but please don't. Because if you do you are already in that place and have probably willfully locked yourself in that little spiritual cage and threw away the keys. This is what Puritanism does. It changes you or keeps you cold, hungry, and (generally speaking) bitter. Certainly there are those who are rare birds that are incredibly resilient to the deadening effects of Puritanism but even these people are not unaffected by it. I escaped. It looks incredibly appealing for those hungry for truth and seeking to honor God in the highest way possible. This book makes it very appealing, but it is actually a sugar-coated drug that changes your identity as a person, it makes you addicted to itself, and generally makes you incapable of unconditional love. Puritanism is the opposite of who Christ is and was while here on this earth. The closest analogy of Puritanism in the bible are the pharisees. If you want the best perspective on Puritanism and most of the "Reformed Faith" read every instance of Christ addressing the Pharisees and Lawyers. Puritans are utterly concerned with the Law and appearances (they are incapable of truly seeing the heart even though they talk a lot about the heart) and are identical examples of the Scribes, Pharisees, and Lawyers of Jesus' day.
Now, I say all this after having been a member of both Reformed Presbyterian and Reformed Baptist Churches (both Confessional). I have read hundreds of Puritan works and all the most respected Reformed and Puritan literature. I was a reformed arm-chair theologian, a self-made scholar, and was a zealot, devoted to the Reformed Faith and Puritanism as any man ever was. It almost killed me. God mercifully delivered me from my self-imposed cage and brought life and love back to my heart.
Read "The Reformers and Their Stepchildren" (though I am not a baptist any longer it does well in revealing Puritanism) by Leonard Verduin. But even better I would recommend reading "The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read" by Tim C. Leedom and "The Dark Side of Christian History" by Helen Ellerbe. They will give you a good and balanced perspective of Puritanism.
So if you value your heart and cherish what you put into your mind, stay way from all Puritanical writings and Reformed theology in general. Read "The Inescapable Love of God" by Thomas Talbott (ISBN: 1581128312) one of the greatest and spiritually healthy books ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Everything You Want in a Good Biography
Review: This excellent study on the greatest theologian/philosopher in American history is everything you would ever want in a good biography. George Marsden writes with an objective eye and at an even pace in this thoroughly researched, yet popularly written biography on Edwards. Much attention is given to the intellectual development of Edwards, and Marsden helps us see Edwards against the backdrop of the age in which he lived. There is also considerable focus on the Great Awakening, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. No one can understand Edwards without understanding something about the controversies in which he was enmeshed; and again, Marsden gives an objective account which is not unsympathetic to Edwards, but does not fail to recognize his feet of clay either. Towards the end of the book are several chapters introducing Edwards most important theological books, such as Freedom of the Will, Original Sin, History of Redemption, and The End for Which God Created the World. The book is carefully documented and indexed, but for all the detail it is an absolutely delightful read! I highly, highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Surprisingly Christian Biography
Review: What's most surprising about Yale's latest attempt at an Edwards Biography is how thoroughly Christian it is. Having extensively studied the 18th century Puritan, I've long been baffled by just how many of his biographers have attempted to make Edwards, to quote G. Marsden, "over in their own images" (p.2). In so doing, some of these books have made his Orthodox Christianity, which was truly the centerpiece of his life and thought, strangely and eerily quiet. Some biographers have tried to separate Edwards' religious convictions from his genius. Marsden doesn't. Any biographer who wishes to write honestly about Edwards must necessarily write much on Edwards' faith and his God. Marsden does. These things were truly the centerpiece of his life and so therefore should be the centerpiece of any book about his life.
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