1 of 6
by Robert E. Brown Indiana Univ. Press, 2002 292 pp.; $35
by Avihu Zakai Princeton Univ. Press, 2003 348 pp.; $49.95 |
At the beginning of Austin Flint's play, The Flaming Spider: Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Edwards hallucinates in a cold sweat on his deathbed in Princeton, New Jersey. The third president of Princeton's fledgling College of New Jersey, and soon to be the third in a row to die an untimely death, Edwards can't help but rue what could have been but never came to pass. Far removed from the family and friends he had loved and served in Massachusetts, he shouts in an eerie apostrophe to Sarah, his wife of 30 years, who had not yet made the journey to Princeton but comforts her husband nonetheless. "I never built a New Jerusalem in Northampton," he cries in despair, "never built the great city on a hill. But the building blocks were in place, Lord. It was within our grasp." Edwards continues in reverie, as he muses over the fleeting joys of New England's Great Awakening. "What a dream it was. What a blessed dream. What a special light hung, still hangs over that [Connecticut River] valley. Look closely. There! Can you see the glow? Can you see it now, Sarah? Northampton, our beloved hills, white steeple of the meeting house. Truly we are blessed by God."1
The Flaming Spider exaggerates Edwards' feelings of failure as a minister, and misrepresents him when it suggests that he tried to build the New Jerusalem. But it offers a vivid portrayal of Edwards' spiritual restlessness and seemingly boundless aspirations-sustained in spite of intense frustration by an unparalleled and irrepressible theological idealism—and illuminates the irony of his phenomenal, though overwhelmingly posthumous, success. Indeed, on this tercentennial anniversary of Edwards' birth in East Windsor, Connecticut (on October 5, 1703), thousands have gathered to remember one whom many would call an unlikely man—dismissed by his own parishioners from the First Church of Northampton, then opposed by family relations at the Stockbridge Indian mission, and finally succumbing in a bout with smallpox two months after moving to Princeton. Despite such bitter disappointments, millions around the world continue to celebrate Edwards' life—compelled by his singular capacity to depict the glory of God. Some still struggle for control of his weighty mantle.
Though inhibited during his lifetime by many who sought to thwart his ministry, Edwards now enjoys an enormous international reputation. He died in 1758 with only a handful of disciples (and a larger number of admirers away from New England's halls of power). But by the end of the 18th century, his followers had founded a spiritual movement, promoting Edwardsian doctrine and practice throughout the Anglo-American world. During the early 19th century, Edwardsians dominated New England and began to circle the globe with the growth of the modern missionary movement. Today, the name of Edwards is known on every major continent. And people have read his writings not only in English, Gaelic, and Welsh editions but also in German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Arabic, Choctaw, Chinese, and Korean. Edwards never would have guessed it. And he would surely not have been pleased with all of the purposes he has served. But the long-term investments he made as preacher, teacher, and theological writer continue to yield a plentiful harvest after three centuries.
In the United States alone, dozens of groups—made up of secular scholars and Christian patrons alike—have gathered to take advantage of Edwards' tercentennial. In towns from Princeton to Pittsburgh, as well as from Wheaton to Washington—not to mention Edwards' haunts in Northampton, Stockbridge, and Wethersfield—a wide assortment of people have met to come to terms with Edwards' legacy. The most prestigious group of scholars met at the Library of Congress for a multidisciplinary colloquy, "Jonathan Edwards at 300." But the largest group, and the one most committed to Edwards' religious agenda, converged in droves on the Minneapolis Convention Center. Hosted by Desiring God Ministries and led by the Rev. John Piper, senior pastor of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, their meeting was held, in the Edwardsian words of Piper's conference website, "for all who desire to see and savor the glory of God." It featured talks by Piper himself, J. I. Packer, and Iain Murray. And it sought to extend Edwards' "passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."2
share this page
RSS Feed
