Abstract
There is a myth that Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) is a creative genius that has no theological ‘father’. But what if Edwards converses with the thinkers from various backgrounds from the Reformed tradition to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy? This volume attempts to answer such a challenging question by providing a broader vision of Edwards’s theology in creating an ecumenical conversation.
The volume is divided into two sections. The first contains seven essays that search for the resemblances and divergences between Edwards’s theology and those of other theologians. It starts by comparing Edwards’s ascetic theology and Nicholas Cabasilas’ notion of seeking Christ, emphasizing that both envisage seeking salvation’ (p. 31). Then two articles introduce Anselm’s doctrine of God and Hugo Grotius’ notion of sacrifice, arguing that Edward shares with Anselm the Augustinian heritage and provides a more effective response than Grotius does to the Enlightenment critique of Christianity. The next chapter addresses Edwards’s doctrine of the Trinity by situating him in the Thomistic tradition, followed by another discussion of Edwards and Luther on the bondage of the will positioning these two great thinkers under a common set of rubrics. The last two essays deal with philosophical-theological issues. While one argues convincingly that Edwards’s aesthetics exhibits much similarity with that of the catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, the other raises a provocative, even controversial, view that Edwards’s thought on creation anticipates the Eastern Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov’s sophiology.
The second section contains six articles and seeks the constructive engagement of Edwards’s theology with contemporary theological debate. It covers a number of controversial issues in modern and postmodern conversations, such as interpretation of the Scriptures, typological views of reality, Spirit-Christology, and Trinitarian prayer. Similar to those in the first section, all these explorations are conducted in comparison with other theologians ranging from Origen and Aquinas to John Henry Newman, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Wolfhart Pannenberg.
In summary, these essays present a much-needed study of Edwards’s theology in an ecumenical context, despite the fact that around half of the contributors are not Edwardsian scholars. While most arguments are both insightful and impressive, the reader would have benefitted more if the authors had provided a more in-depth examination, particularly by quoting the research of previous scholars.