The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 11: Typological Writings

by Jonathan Edwards, Wallace E. Anderson (Editor), David Watters (Editor)

This volume presents for the first time a comprehensive, readable, and annotated text of the key typological notebooks of Jonathan Edwards: "Images of Divine Things, " "Types Notebook, " and Miscellany 1069, "Types of the Messiah." These three works illustrate the way the eminent eighteenth-century theologian developed his theory of typological exegesis, a theory that helped him to understand the relationship between the Old and New Testaments and to comprehend the correspondence between the natural and the spiritual worlds. Edwards' theories of typology have long fascinated scholars from a variety of fields and have dominated literary studies of his work. These documents illuminate Edwards' epistemology and show clearly his involvement in contemporary philosophical and exegetical trends. Introductions to the documents place Edwards' typology within the context of his period, describe his typological practices, clarify some of the complex problems posed by his ambiguous use of the types throughout his career, and discuss his philosophical defenses of typologizing against the claims of materialists, deists, and rationalists.

Genres: Theology

432 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 1993

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

[Jake McAtee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty great and convicting. Resolved: to see creation the way that Edwards does.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a truly impressive work. Edwards needs to be recognized as the father of American theology, in many ways and on many levels. What a man.

[John Rimmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Edwards knew what I was going to say about this one when he said this: "I expect by very ridicule and contempt to be called a man of a very fruitful brain and copious fancy, but they are welcome to it. I am not ashamed to own that I believe that the whole universe, heaven and earth, air and seas, and the divine constitution and history of the holy Scriptures, be full of images of divine things, as full as a language is of words; and that the multitude of those things that I have mentioned are but a very small part of what is really intended to be signified and typified by these things: but that there is room for persons to be learning more and more of this language and seeing more of that which is declared in it to the end of the world without discovering all." (p. 152)

More than merely what he was able to notice, but the example he gives to pay more attention to the glory of God being declared everywhere in everything. That was the real benefit of this collection.

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this trek through Edwards' typological musings. They show the mind of a man who demonstrates extreme consistency--someone who took deathly serious the claim the "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." (Psalm 19:1) This volume is a collection of small entries in which Edwards attempts to listen to what creation says about its Creator.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. I have been blessed with lots of teaching on Scripture’s symbolism and typology from my dad, pastor, and college professors, so lots of this was like chatting with an old friend. Borrowed my pastor’s copy and followed his blue highlights throughout.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edwards sees typology as foundational for interpreting all reality, and especially in the OT to NT. Great stuff indeed.