Virtually everyone these days is interested in reading Jonathan
Edwards. Perry Miller put Edwards on the radar map of scholars back in
the 1950s with the publication of his seminal biography of the New England pastor-theologian. Soon thereafter, Yale University Press began publishing a critical edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards, which stands at 26 published volumes. Yale also became home to the leading Jonathan Edwards Center in the world. The Edwards Center published or republished a number of other works related to Edwards,
including both primary sources and secondary studies. Yale also
published what is now considered to be the standard scholarly biography
of Edwards, George Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life (2003, pictured right).
For more casual readers of Edwards, in 1958 Banner of Truth reprinted a two-volume edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards
which was first published in 1834. Banner of Truth, Soli Deo Gloria,
and other mostly reformed publishers made reprinted editions of
Edwards’s writings widely available to pastors, seminarians, and
armchair theologians. Authors such as Iain Murray, John Piper, Sam Storms, Sean Lucas, Stephen Nichols, Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, and Kyle Strobel have also played a key role in introducing conservative evangelicals to Edwards and his legacy.
It has never been easier to read works by and about Edwards than in
the digital age. Of course, many books are available in less-expensive
electronic editions for e-readers such as Kindles and Nooks. Edwards’s
most popular writings are available for free or cheap through Amazon and
Google Books. These inexpensive electronic copies have been an asset to
many readers. For example, in past years I’ve required students in
Church History II to read Edwards’s Religious Affections and pointed them to a free edition from 1821
available on Google Books. Though the Google Books edition is dated, it
was a free alternative to cash-strapped students who didn’t want to buy
a physical edition of the book. Continue at Nathan Finn
