Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections 1787

Description: TP + [iii]-viii = Preface+[ix] =-[xvi] = Subscriber's Names + [25]-116 = The Life of the Reverend Mr. Jonathan Edwards + 1 blank leaf + [119]-499 + [501]-[508] = Table of Contents (actually an Index), Octavo. First New Jersey Edition. George M. Marsden begins his outstanding biography of Edwards by saying: "[He] was extraordinary. By many estimates, he was the most acute early American philosopher and the most brilliant of all American theologians." (Marsden, p. 1) This copy includes a long, near-contemporary biography of Edwards on pp. 25-116. Jonathan Edwards presided over the local religious Awakening that swept through his own church in NorthamptonMassachusetts in 1734-35 and then played a prominent role in the much larger and widespread Colonial revivalist movement of 1741-42 - which is commonly called "The Great Awakening". Both of these periods of intense religious fervor reached, at times, hysterical peaks of religious enthusiasm. In the end, the enthusiasm waned and the general fall-out was widespread: "hundreds of churches were split, the people were exhausted, and the solidarity of New England society in the preceding century had been sundered as by a knife." (Miller, pp. 176-77) "As the awakening was receding, defeated by its own excesses, [Edwards] had preached a series of sermons on the proper place of religious affections in the Christian life. During the next several years he revised and extensively expanded these into his Treatise on Religious Affections, which finally appeared in 1746. This careful exposition was immediately reprinted in England and remains the most widely read and admired of his theological works." (Marsden, pp. 284-5) A deep thinker, a brilliant writer and clearly the first great "American" philosopher, Edwards claimed here that "gracious and holy affections have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice." Edwards gave by far the longest attention to this test. "Religion consist much in holy affections;" he repeated "but those exercise of affection which are most distinguished of true religion, are these practical exercise" So the way to gauge the genuineness of one's faith was not to look at one's feelings, but to one's practice. Edwards spoke as an empirical scientist. "As that is called experimental philosophy, which brings opinion and notions to the test of fact; so is that properly called experimental religion, which brings religious affection and intentions, to the like test" (Marsden, p. 288) The Treatise on Religious Affections is the book that laid the foundation for the American "pragmatic" style of philosophizing. New cover with deluxe touches, leather over boards with raised spines. In general, the pages are rather poorly printed and most are uniformly browned. Still, an authentic 18th century copy of one of Edward's most important and influential works.

Price: 749 USD

Location: Santa Clara, California

End Time: 2025-02-11T01:56:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7 USD