A popular narrative maintains that Protestant iconoclasm in worship produced an impoverished aesthetic and symbolic imagination, but much is missed in this account. Historians have long described the Puritan imagination as ripe with biblical-symbolic imagery. We see this contemplative tradition on full display in Edwards’s Image of Divine Things and Baxter’s The Saints’ Everlasting Rest. … Read more
This paper examines pro-revival ordination as a vision for augmenting colonial ecclesiological authority in the contentious environment of New England during the Enlightenment. Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) preached, published, and produced protégés during the transatlantic revivals known as the Great Awakening. His favorite biblical text to use for ordination must have been the Gospel of … Read more
The theological legacy of the Reformation has produced “strange bedfellows.” In the context of nineteenth-century theology, perhaps German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher and his American counterpart Charles Hodge serve as proper examples of this “strange” kinship to the Reformation tradition. Schleiermacher’s allegiance to the “Reformed” legacy is particularly noteworthy given his commitment to reconstructing key Christian … Read more
Evangelicals have responded to logical positivist historiography in various ways. Thus, an exploration of these several different evangelical approaches to historiography needs to be done. Considering these positions, it will be argued that an evangelical historiography for use inside the church should look different from an evangelical historiography for use outside the church. That is, … Read more
Jonathan Edwards is considered the most innovative theological-philosophical mind in America. While much of his system has been mapped out, there still remains some debate over his atonement thinking and how his successors may have adapted it into a species of Moral Government Theory. Oliver Crisp has observed that Edwards’s “most reflective work on this … Read more