
Edwards the Exegete
Biblical Interpretation and Anglo-Protestant Culture on the Edge of the Enlightenment
Douglas A. Sweeney(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 18. January 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
408 pages
978-0-19-068749-6 (ISBN)
Description
Scholars have long recognized that Jonathan Edwards loved the Bible, but preoccupation with his roles in Western "public" life and letters has eclipsed the significance of his biblical exegesis. In Edwards the Exegete, Douglas A. Sweeney fills this lacuna, exploring Edwards' exegesis and its significance for Christian thought and intellectual history.
As Sweeney shows, throughout Edwards' life the lion's share of his time was spent wrestling with the words of holy writ. After reconstructing Edwards' lost exegetical world and describing his place within it, Sweeney summarizes his four main approaches to the Bible-canonical, Christological, redemptive-historical, and pedagogical-and analyzes his work on selected biblical themes that illustrate these four approaches, focusing on material emblematic of Edwards' larger interests as a scholar. Sweeney compares Edwards' work to that of his most frequent interlocutors and places it in the context of the history of exegesis, challenging commonly held notions about the state of Christianity in the age of the Enlightenment.
Edwards the Exegete offers a novel guide to the theologian's exegetical work, clearing a path that other specialists are sure to follow. Sweeney's significant reassessment of Edwards' place in the Enlightenment makes a major contribution to Edwards studies, eighteenth-century studies, the history of exegesis, the theological interpretation of Scripture, and homiletics.
As Sweeney shows, throughout Edwards' life the lion's share of his time was spent wrestling with the words of holy writ. After reconstructing Edwards' lost exegetical world and describing his place within it, Sweeney summarizes his four main approaches to the Bible-canonical, Christological, redemptive-historical, and pedagogical-and analyzes his work on selected biblical themes that illustrate these four approaches, focusing on material emblematic of Edwards' larger interests as a scholar. Sweeney compares Edwards' work to that of his most frequent interlocutors and places it in the context of the history of exegesis, challenging commonly held notions about the state of Christianity in the age of the Enlightenment.
Edwards the Exegete offers a novel guide to the theologian's exegetical work, clearing a path that other specialists are sure to follow. Sweeney's significant reassessment of Edwards' place in the Enlightenment makes a major contribution to Edwards studies, eighteenth-century studies, the history of exegesis, the theological interpretation of Scripture, and homiletics.
Reviews / Votes
[T]his publication is likely to become a standard volume in the field of Edwards studies ... From this text it is clear that any general assessment of Edwards and of his work must take into account the central place and function of his lifelong effort as an exegete and interpreter of the text of the Bible. Any study of Edwards that does not deal with that religious and professional preoccupation is seriously flawed. * Journal of Religion * Sweeney has done the great service of poring over all Edwards' work on scripture in order to help his modern readers understand how he used these texts. His documentation in the endnotes is meticulous. The result is a clear and compelling contribution to the literature that all future interpreters of Edwards will have to take into account. * Oliver D. Crisp, Scottish Journal of Theology * A very impressive achievement. Sweeney provides fresh understanding and appreciative insight into Edwards' enchanted world of Scripture. Edwards saw all of reality as infused with spiritual meaning. So God's special revelation in Scripture was not only the perspicuous key to everything else, it was also packed with countless cryptic spiritual connotations. * George Marsden, author of Jonathan Edwards: A Life* This book is a major contribution to scholarship that evidences a deep and refined knowledge of Edwards' thought and presents a penetrating analysis of the reading of Scripture in a vast array of Edwards' works. Sweeney identifies Edwards' location in the Protestant exegetical tradition and ably sets his work into the context of intellectual life of the mid-eighteenth century. * Richard A. Muller, P.J. Zondervan Professor of Historical Theology, Emeritus, Calvin Theological Seminary
* Don't be fooled-this book is not about grammar or verb declensions. With leading figures from church history as conversation partners, Sweeney elegantly unpacks crucial issues of biblical interpretation in Edwards' ministry. Big theological topics alternate with discussion of Edwards' exposition of books of the Bible, demonstrating Sweeney's prodigious eye to detail and his capacious understanding of Edwards' world. This book isn't about syntax, but something more powerful: the transforming Word of God.> * Rhys Bezzant, author of Jonathan Edwards and the Church
* This study fills a significant lacuna. Much has been written about Edwards' life and times, his theology, and philosophy. But so far we did not have a comprehensive study of what Edwards himself would have regarded as the foundation of everything else: his biblical exegesis. Drawing widely from the Edwards corpus, Sweeney offers us a highly learned and nuanced but also very readable account of Edwards' multifaceted engagement with Scripture in the context of the early Enlightenment. * Jan Stievermann, Professor of the History of Christianity in the U.S., Heidelberg University
* Doug Sweeney has written what will probably be the definitive work on this aspect of Edwards ... doubtless the single most important book on this subject for a number of years to come. * English Churchman * Douglas Sweeney's Edwards the Exegete is a rich and illuminating study of Jonathan Edwards's biblical exegesis. Sweeney carefully untangles Edwards's exegesis by drawing on a plethora of printed and manuscript sources. * Russell Newton, Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
689 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-068749-6 (9780190687496)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Douglas A. Sweeney
Edwards the Exegete
Biblical Interpretation and Anglo-Protestant Culture on the Edge of the Enlightenment
Book
12/2015
Oxford University Press Inc
€141.50
Shipment within 15-20 days

Douglas A. Sweeney
Edwards the Exegete
Biblical Interpretation and Anglo-Protestant Culture on the Edge of the Enlightenment
E-Book
10/2015
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€53.49
Available for download
Person
Douglas A. Sweeney is Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought, Chair of the Department, and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has published widely on Edwards, early modern Protestant thought, and the history of evangelicalism. His books include two volumes in the Yale Edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards (1999, 2004), Nathaniel Taylor, New Haven Theology, and the Legacy of Jonathan Edwards (2003), and The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement (2005). He is on the editorial board of Jonathan Edwards Studies.
Author
Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought; Chair of the DepartmentProfessor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought; Chair of the Department, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Content
Preface
PART ONE: PROLEGOMENA
Chapter One: The Biblical World of Jonathan Edwards
Chapter Two: The Character of Scripture--and of Its Best Interpreters
PART TWO: A CANON OF SCRIPTURE
Chapter Three: The Harmony of the Old and New Testament
Chapter Four: A Priest Forever After the Order of Melchisedec
PART THREE: A CRADLE OF CHRIST
Chapter Five: The Excellency of Christ
Chapter Six: Let Him Kiss Me with the Kisses of His Mouth
PART FOUR: A SACRED RECORD OF REDEMPTION
Chapter Seven: The Grand Design of God
Chapter Eight: Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass
PART FIVE: A GUIDE TO FAITH AND LIFE
Chapter Nine: The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth
Chapter Ten: Accounted as One by the Judge
Last Things
PART ONE: PROLEGOMENA
Chapter One: The Biblical World of Jonathan Edwards
Chapter Two: The Character of Scripture--and of Its Best Interpreters
PART TWO: A CANON OF SCRIPTURE
Chapter Three: The Harmony of the Old and New Testament
Chapter Four: A Priest Forever After the Order of Melchisedec
PART THREE: A CRADLE OF CHRIST
Chapter Five: The Excellency of Christ
Chapter Six: Let Him Kiss Me with the Kisses of His Mouth
PART FOUR: A SACRED RECORD OF REDEMPTION
Chapter Seven: The Grand Design of God
Chapter Eight: Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass
PART FIVE: A GUIDE TO FAITH AND LIFE
Chapter Nine: The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth
Chapter Ten: Accounted as One by the Judge
Last Things