Freedom of the Will

Jonathan Edwards

Sovereign Grace Publishers, Incorporated, 2001 - Philosophy - 370 pages

First published in 1754, Jonathan Edwards' rightly famous theological classic considers human Free Will and its many important philosophical implications. Do we indeed possess Free Will? If 'Yes', how then can God have knowledge of future events?; and if the answer be 'No', can humans ever be justly punished for their evil actions which are, by definition, predestined by God's Will? Edwards' penetrating analysis of the topic opens up a whole range of additional, deeply significant concepts and queries: How does God's foreknowledge of all events impact our concepts of morality: what constitutes sin? Does intent alter the value of our acts of vice and virtue? Can the Deity do evil?

Edwards argues that God's foreknowledge demands determinism, and that while the human will cannot therefore be fully autonomous, humans still possess the ability to sin or to refrain from sinning. God seeks the greatest possible good, allowing sin's existence only in order to achieve

this laudable end.

'Freedom of the Will' established Jonathan Edwards as the greatest American philosopher of his time. Still controversial, and hotly debated in the 21st century, this absorbing work continues to stimulate and challenge modern readers.

About the author

In 1716 Edwards was admitted to Yale at the remarkable age of thirteen. After he graduated in 1722, he spent four years there pursuing theological interests, teaching, and completing his master's degree. In 1727,Edwards complied with his grandfather's request and traveled to Northhampton, Massachusetts to be his assistant in his church. A committed scholar of John Calvin and the early Puritan theologians, as well as of the writings of John Locke and Isaac Newton, Edwards pursued a theology founded on two seemingly contradictory themes---a desire to return to the Calvinist tradition, as well as a desire to include the insights of contemporary Enlightenment philosophy. While Edwards's theological formulations were not completely developed until the 1750s, his lifetime pursuit of these ideas profoundly influenced the Puritan period of religious revival known as the Great Awakening. Though Edwards's provocative theology and sermons occasionally invoked fire and brimstone, as in the famous Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741), his sermons generally moved parishioners to faith through the employment of positive imagery, as in God Glorified in Man's Dependence (1731). In spite of his successes during the Great Awakening, Edwards was ultimately involved in a controversy that led to his dismissal at the Northhampton parish in 1750. Viewed as too progressive by a faction of the church known as the Old Lights, Edwards stepped down after delivering his famous Farewell Sermon (1750), in which he declared that God would ultimately determine whether Edwards had been right or wrong

Bibliographic information

• Title: Freedom of the Will
• Author: Jonathan Edwards
• Publisher: Sovereign Grace Publishers, Incorporated, 2001
• ISBN: 1589600088, 9781589600089
• Length: 370 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Free Will & Determinism; Religion / Biblical Studies / General; Religion / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth; Religion / Christian Theology / Soteriology; Religion / Christianity / Calvinist; Religion / Devotional; Religion / Reference