Jonathan Edwards: America's Genius

Trailblazers

by Christian Timothy George

Jonathan Edwards was just an ordinary American boy but he was different too. The country he lived in wasn't the America of today - but a new world full of adventure and opportunity. Battles and Tomahawks were just some of the thrilling adventures that his family lived through.


But Jonathan also loved the small things in life too. In an age of scientific discovery, Edwards saw God's beauty displayed most perfectly through nature. His journals are filled with drawings of plants, animals, and spiders because he knew that each one of them reflected the creativity of its Creator.


His mind was full of questions and he grappled for the answers.
Intellectually there were few to beat him. However it wasn't just his amazing intelligence that set him apart from other boys his age - he may have had a thirst for knowledge but he also had a strong desire for the things of God. His genius and abilities teamed up well with his faith and love for the Lord Jesus Christ.


One day the country that would become the United States of America would look back at this man of brilliance as a founding influence on their land.

Genres: Biography, Audiobook, Nonfiction, History, Christian, Childrens, Faith

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jami Balmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to read with older kids! I loved the high level overview of Edwards life and his emphasis on trusting so fully in the Lord!

This is a fictionalized biography so they do take a lot of liberties with the details and stories and I was left wondering many times “hmm...I wonder what the real facts are here”?

But overall it was a very engaging read and a great one for kids!!

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this book does sort of provide an outline of Edwards's life, so I'll give it that. But with all the imaginative liberties the author took with dialogue, inner thoughts, and descriptive details, I'd classify this squarely in the category historical fiction—not biography or non-fiction. What's worse, however, is that the dialogue is so painfully anachronistic. The characters openly discuss their deep appreciation for Mohican culture and the Indians' connection with nature in way that sounds like it could have been pulled from a twentieth-century National Park Service guidebook to native peoples. And half the time, Edwards himself talks and prays with the diction and vocabulary of a modern evangelical preacher who just walked off the stage in a tight T-shirt and wireless headset. His prayers start with, "Father God..." (a phrase I've only ever heard in a modern evangelical church), and characters talk about "teenagers" (a word coined in the 1920s) who "accept Christ" or "rededicate their lives." Spiders also keep showing up at convenient, but not very believable, moments as a theme to tie the events of Edwards's life together. And all of these liberties might be fine if you're writing a novel. But don't pitch it to me as a biography. Even as historical fiction, it's awkwardly ahistorical.

The transitions between chapters in Edwards's life are also abrupt and odd. The story jumps between scenes, sometimes across many years, with little explanation, leaving me scratching my head over what exactly happened to get us to the next episode.

I know the author was writing this for kids, so it needed to be made intelligible to modern children. But the extensive liberties the author took, especially by putting words into the mouths of these eighteenth-century believers that they neither did nor would say, was really inexcusable. In fact, if this is meant to be taken as a true story, some those liberties might even be called lies.

[Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really thought it was awful. Now that may be because I've read multiple biographies of Edwards, but this one played VERY fast and loose with the facts and made up lots of hypothetical incidents with Jonathan's childhood, courtship etc. Sara Pierpont was unknown to Jonathan's mother until she showed up on the doorstep? Jonathan forgot all about this young lady he'd been courting for two years due to a fall? Oh, and his "amazing" and "brilliant" answer to "who was John Calvin" is supposed to impress me? At no point did I feel as though "genius" came through.

It feels as though the author read the Wikipedia article on Edwards and read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" because according to this biography, Edwards was obsessed with spiders throughout his life and focused a lot on burning in hell. It was dramatized for children, but it just as well may have been fiction.

[Stephen Hicks · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this to be a very low resolution, incredibly cheesy introduction to Jonathan Edwards. Best part about this audiobook was that it was free. Perhaps I need to figure out who the audience is meant to be for this series, because it is not me. This might be a good intro for children into Jonathan Edwards life, because it’s so dramatized. Even then I’m not really sure.

[ValeReads Kyriosity · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having recently read Marriage to a Difficult Man, I thought it would be nice to fill in a little more knowledge about Jonathan Edwards. This was not the way to go about it. For a wonderful series of Christian biographies for young people, check out Richard Hannula's books. Unlike this travesty, they are not patronizing, anachronistic, or downright false in places.

[Carol Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spiders?!!! The great theologian, Jonathan Edwards, had an obsession with spiders? Maybe he did, but I find it hard to believe that he had such an obsession that his last words as he was dying were spoken to a spider! This is written as a children's book and I guess the author wanted to spark their interest, but spiders? Seriously? Ok, rant over! Other than that this was a fair introduction to Edwards. It was short and sweet!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Not a fan of the speculative dialogue.

Introduction
nature shows God's beauty
started college at age 13
B. B. Warfield: Edwards stands alone as the great intellectual of colonial America

Ch. 1: Sisters and Spiders
1711
father was a military chaplain; away in the war against Mohicans; returned because of an injury

Ch. 2: Swamp Prayers
prayer booth in woods; prayer journal
loved Bunyan's Grace Abounding

Ch. 3: Food Fight
journal entry about helping a friend named Elisha who had betrayed him

Ch. 4: Dock Discipline
1723
New York and sin
call to be a pastor
sermon on discipline/laziness
always used a transcript of his notes; never raised his voice

Ch. 5: Cured by Sickness
1725
collapse in the woods
Yale tutor
Sarah Pierpont; proposal
Calvinism

Ch. 6: Judgment Day
1727
regularly got up at 4 a.m.; spent 13 hours in his study

Ch. 7: Awakening
1741; revivals
Franklin's experiment regarding Whitefield's voice (could be heard more than a mile away; 25,000 people could hear him)
"Sinners in the hands of an angry God"

Ch. 8: Last of the Mohicans
1751
forced out of church (disciplined boys in the church too harshly; house/hotel was too expensive)
David Brainerd (missionary to Native Americans)

Ch. 9: Transition Time
1758
call to be president at Princeton
smallpox inoculation

Ch. 10: Living Again
1758
wife not there when he died

[Liam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t make it through the first chapter. Not a biography, but more of a historical fiction. Not interested.

[Ryan Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a disclaimer, this is the first audiobook I'm logging here onto Goodreads. I'm hesitant about doing so, because I do not think that listening to an audiobook is the same as reading. After doing it for this book, I can fully confirm that. However, I do think that audiobook listening—especially to stories and biographies—can be really insightful. Different than actual reading, but still nonetheless similar. As a result, I will be using a new "Audiobooks" tab for my audiobooks that I've listened to.

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So as for this book, I enjoyed it. It was a free audiobook on Christian audio last month. It is clearly aimed at younger children. And it isn't a typical biography. But it does tell his life decently well through different snippets of stories.

I rate it only 3 stars because of it's shallowness. That being said, for children, I'd give it 5 stars. But I'm rating it for myself.

[Dkovlak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very brief summary of Jonathan Edwards’ life. The book was so short I read it twice. He truly was a genius. He had many of the characteristics of another genius, Leonardo DaVinci. However, Jonathan was much more structured and therefore completed many things. He truly was a Christian who walked the talk. He preached one of the greatest sermons ever, SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD. This sermon should be listened to or read by every human being.

He died an early death (only 55 years old), as a result of a bad reaction to a smallpox vaccination.

[Christine Gustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great little book!

Listened to this as part of an American History study. This short biography is engaging, thoughtful and inspiring. Highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about Jonathan Edwards!

[Stephen Mccollum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this story as an audiobook with Zoe on the way to and from school. She enjoyed it.

[Taylor Rollo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a very good introduction to Jonathan Edwards life. It only told a few random stories and I told them in a very sensationalist way, playing up certain aspects of his personality and making up a lot of details that we do not know to make it sound more dramatic.

The title is America's Genius, but after reading this you really would have very little knowledge of why he is America's genius. It was stated and a few places, but the book does not talk about his publications any amount of detail and does not talk about his engagement with Enlightenment thought.

There are plenty of other introductions to Jonathan Edwards that are shorter than full length biographies that would be better than this one.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is alright as an introduction to the basic outline of Edwards' life which attempts to draw in younger people, but far too fictionalized and speculative for my liking. Some filling in the blanks was necessary, but I feel that the author went a bit overboard.

[Josh Bauder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Juvenile hagiographic invention marketed as biography. smh

[Maarten De vries · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinderboek. Maar geen goed kinderboek. Het is goed om over Jonathan Edwards te lezen en daarom nog net 3 sterren. Maar het ontbreken aan een verhaallijn en spanning - behalve misschien in het laatste hoofdstuk waar je je afvraagt of Jonathan komt te overlijden - maakt het geen feest voor de lezer.
Verder is het boek overdreven moralistisch en daarmee ook onrealistisch. Jonathan Edwards zal anders zijn geweest dan andere kinderen, maar alles wat hij zegt of doet lijkt als voorbeeld te moeten dienen voor jonge lezers (of luisteraars). Dit doet afbreuk aan het verhaal.
Ik ken het leven van Edwards nauwelijks uit andere bronnen en kan dus geen oordeel geven over de betrouwbaarheid van de biografie.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

In between "It was okay" and "Liked it."

I really appreciated the excerpts from Edward's diaries and sermons, as well as getting a timeline of his life. I have an audiobook of John Bunyan's Grace Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, which this book makes me eager to read. The characters spoke in a modern way (with references to "teenagers" and other newer words), but I didn't mind that. Some parts felt far-fetched, though, and weren't backed up by his writings.

The main things I didn't care for were the one dimensional portrayal of characters and continuous info dumping. Many conversations consisted simply of monologues beginning with, "As you know."

An easy listen and decent introduction to Jonathan Edwards for me.

[Doug Eaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun introduction to the life of Johnathan Edwards for pre-teen and teen readers. It is written in story format which helps to keep the attention of the reader. This is a basic introduction, so it lacks any real depth of exploration of his thought and theology, but the book will introduce the reader to Edward's love of nature and take them through his preaching of Sinners in the hands of an Angry God. Most of all, it will introduce them to his love for the Jesus Christ. They will see his devotion and trust in God in all that he did. Along the way, you will also run across other characters like Benjamin Franklin, David Brainerd, and George Whitfield.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the free book offered by Christian Audio for the month of May. I thought the audiobook was well done. This was my first Trailblazers book and it was well written. I enjoyed learning more about Jonathan Edwards and the genius mind God gave him. His example still lives on today and his message to put God first and to live, not for this life here on earth, but for our life in eternity, is a message I hope I will never forget!

I will be encouraging my children to listen to this audiobook!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to the kids. This is similar to a Childhood of Famous Americans, although it is shorter and approximately half of it is about adulthood. That is, there are several passages that describe an event or conversation that could have been true because it is consistent with what we know of Edwards. But it might not have happened as described. The book draws out Edwards's love for nature, his beliefs about sin and God's sovereignty, his love for preaching and his somewhat unusual style, his work with Native Americans, and the broad contours of his marriage, family life and career.

[Esther* · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is written for children, so they are simplified biographies of significant Christian figures. They are written with a mixture of factual accounts and some creative liberties that describe particular scenes in poetic detail.

This account of Jonathon Edwards’ life was easy to follow, and poignant in places. His teaching, family life, and impact on American churches before Independence was declared revealed a lot about the perspectives of the day. A good overview to inspire further research.

[Claudine Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another inspiring story of A great man of faith, who saw everything even the littlest detail in nature in God's perspective. Who use his great intellect in serving God with all that is within him.

The book narrates the special events in his life that portray his maturity in faith, to his childhood prayer sanctuary to pulpit, where truly nothing is an accident and everything has a purpose.
Great read all in all.

[Esteban Villarreal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank is a kid’s book, but it is great like for people like me that usually have a struggle to get intrastate about biographies. After reading this book, I am more excited to keep reading about this great theologian. Jonathan Edwards, Great mind, about Sinead do you see God’s glory through nature or of God’s creation and A passionate for the gospel and share it do you his family and Indians.

I am super excited and encouraged by his love for Jesus the gospel and enjoying God‘s creation

[Brenten Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING 3.78 STARS

Nice, succinct biography of the preaching giant. I learned quite a bit about Edwards, which was cool, since I really only knew him as the author of SINNERS IN THE HAND OF AN ANGRY GOD. There was obviously much more to the man than that and I now have an even greater appreciation for his impact on the world around him. Also, I will continue to avoid getting a flu shot each year.

[Matt Maples · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Jonathon Edwards, and that is likely the reason I am not a big fan of this book. The biggest shortcomings of the book are probably the reasons other people might like it. I found it to to be far to short and abbreviated. Cutting down Edwards’s life to such a concise book forces you to have a disjointed and incomplete reading experience. But if this is your first interaction with Edwards, then this book is a perfect first encounter.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably would have rated it much higher if I could have understood whether these were actually vents and statements like from journals or witnesses or anything. Or was all of this just a fantasy of the mind with ideas based upon what could have happened?
There was some beautiful words in here and if somebody actually said them that would be great. If the author made them up, that's fantastic too because they were great words. It's just it would be nice to know who's words they were

[Hank Pharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of a whole series of novels for young people about famous figures of church history. I was curious about the series so I listened to this one and enjoyed it.

(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})

[John Majors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this is written for a younger audience, I found the story based format so encouraging. I learned as much about Edwards's life from this short work than I did from other much more thorough works. Definitely worth reading - especially since it's the free Christian Audio book of the month this month (May 2018).

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

A biography told in a narrative style, so it seems it included a little embellishment. Between the embellishment and life events meant to illustrate doctrinal points — it was a little too “on the nose”. There are some great spots, but I realized those were quotes from Edwards himself. I think I’d like to read a less fictionalized biography or something authored by Edwards.

[Elijah Abanto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this engaging and beautiful audiobook on Jonathan Edwards' life that is accessible to children. The last chapters told of his removal as pastor from a church in New Hampton, his ministry to American Indians, his installment as a leader of Princeton University, his illness and the last sermon he preached before his death. I highly recommend this book!