Edwards the Exegete: Biblical Interpretation and Anglo-Protestant Culture on the Edge of the Enlightenment
Douglas A. Sweeney
Abstract
Scholars have long recognized that Edwards loved the Bible. But preoccupied with his roles in Western “public” life and letters, and failing to see the public significance of his biblical exegesis, we have devoted little attention to the thing he took most seriously. The lion’s share of his time during every week of his life was spent wrestling with the words of holy writ. This book examines Edwards’ biblical interpretation and its significance for Christian thought and intellectual history. After reconstructing Edwards’ lost exegetical world and describing his place within it, it summarizes E ... More
Scholars have long recognized that Edwards loved the Bible. But preoccupied with his roles in Western “public” life and letters, and failing to see the public significance of his biblical exegesis, we have devoted little attention to the thing he took most seriously. The lion’s share of his time during every week of his life was spent wrestling with the words of holy writ. This book examines Edwards’ biblical interpretation and its significance for Christian thought and intellectual history. After reconstructing Edwards’ lost exegetical world and describing his place within it, it summarizes Edwards’ main approaches to the Bible (canonical, Christological, redemptive-historical, and pedagogical) and analyzes Edwards’ work on selected biblical themes that illustrate these four approaches—focusing on material that is emblematic of Edwards’ larger interests as a scholar. The book compares Edwards’ work on selected biblical themes that illustrate these four approaches—focusing on material that is emblematic of Edwards’ larger interests as a scholar. He compares Edwards’ work to that of his leading interlocutors and places it in the context of the history of interpretation, challenging preconceived notions about the state of Christianity in the age of the Enlightenment.
Keywords:
Edwards,
Bible,
exegesis,
interpretation,
Christianity,
Enlightenment
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199793228 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199793228.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Douglas A. Sweeney, author
Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought; Chair of the Department, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
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