Heaven and Hell: Jonathan Edwards on the Afterlife

by John H. Gerstner

ISBN 0801037492

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

John Henry Gerstner was a Professor of Church History at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary and an authority on the life and theology of Jonathan Edwards.
He earned both a Master of Divinity of degree and a Master of Theology degree from Westminster Theological Seminary. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1945. He was originally ordained in the United Presbyterian Church of North America, then (due to church unions) with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 1990, he left the PCUSA for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Gerstner counted among his students, noted author and preacher, R. C. Sproul, founder of Ligonier Ministries, Dr. Arthur Lindsley, Senior Fellow at the C.S. Lewis Institute, and Dr. Walter (Wynn) Kenyon, Professor of Biblical Studies and Philosophy; Chair of the Philosophy Department and Division of Ministry and Human Services at Belhaven University.

In addition to the books Gerstner had written, he also recorded several lengthy audio courses giving a survey of theology, church history, and Christian apologetics, which are distributed through Ligonier Ministries. Gerstner was non-dispensationalist.

In 1976, a Festschrift was published in Gerstner's honor. Soli Deo Gloria: Essays in Reformed Theology included contributions by Cornelius Van Til, J. I. Packer, Philip Edgecumbe Hughes, John Murray, R. C. Sproul, John Warwick Montgomery, and Roger Nicole.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Prata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short work, at times felt more like Cliff's Notes, but honestly, it is such a weighty subject, particularly the way Edwards deals with it, that I don't know if my heart and soul could stand the pain of reading about hell any more deeply that was already presented. I didn't agree with all Edwards had to say on the subject (i.e. earth being the location of hell after the conflagration, or that devils torment us in hell) but alternately, Edwards did raise interesting points. Like this one: are men punished for sins IN the state of punishment as well as in the state of trial? One comes to appreciate Edwards' attention to the doctrine. His pleas, constant and earnest as they were, to avoid hell ran consistently with the Bible's frequency on the subject (3-to-1 in favor of threats and warnings vs comforts and lovelies). He said that the only way for men to have ease on earth is to delete the doctrine of hell, and so it is the same to this day. Recommended.