The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 24: The Blank Bible

by Jonathan Edwards, Stephen J. Stein (Editor)

This volume, perhaps the most unusual in Edwards' oeuvre, brings to light more clearly than ever before the full scope of his creative investment in biblical studies.

1472 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Jonathan Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.

The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.

In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.

Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.

Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.

Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).

Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t read this one from cover to cover, instead I’m more or less always reading this as a majestic examination of God’s glory throughout Scripture. The depth of Edwards thought, and the magnification of the glory of God is palpable throughout his Blank Bible. It’s also just a joy to be able to see all of Edwards’ private notes on Scripture throughout his life.

One of my very favorite books I own. Truly a treasure to read alongside my Bible.

[Aaron Carlberg]

When Jonathan Edwards died at Yale he left most of his papers there. In 1730 he was given a book-like, leather-bound manuscript containing an interleaved printed edition of the "King James Version of the Bible" and over 800 blank pages. Over the next three decades, Edwards proceeded to write in the manuscript more than five thousand notes and entries relating to biblical texts (he called this his Blank Bible).