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Book Corner: Learning from Edwards and Whitefield

What do these 18th-century preachers tell us about our world?

It's important to know where you came from.

Here are two biographies I've read in the past few months that I think will encourage you and give you insights into why we do the things we do.

The first is George Marsden's A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards. Marsden wrote a long–very long–biography of the great theologian some years ago that is supposedly very good (I've been meaning to read it). But the great thing about A Short Life is that it's quite short–around 150 pages. It's clear and easy to read. And it provides some great insights into both Edwards' life and ministry and the way life and ministry really was in the 18th century.

Here's an example: For as long as I've been alive, I've heard parents and pastors blame the media (I think MTV used to bear the brunt of evangelical fury) for the promiscuity of teenagers. We seem to assume that in the good old days, young people remained pure and chaste until marriage.

Jonathan Edwards didn't think so. He spoke aggressively against the "company ...

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