George M. Marsden is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He has written
numerous books, including The Soul of the American University and The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship
Review
"The finest biography of this towering figure."
--Benjamin Schwarz, The Atlantic Monthly
"Marsden has brought together in a magisterial synthesis the details of the man's daily life and the range
of ideas that challenged the assumptions of his time and ours."
--Edmund S. Morgan
"This is the finest biography of Edwards that I have read. It will be the standard benchmark for Edwards scholarship
for generations to come."
--Harry S. Stout, Yale University
"There is no question that Marsden's biography is the best book ever written about America's (and perhaps
the world's) greatest theologian."
--Sam T. Logan, Jr., Westminster Theological Seminary
"In this biography, Marsden has produced a masterpiece. It is eloquent, reliable, and comprehensive. I found
it insightful and inspiring throughout."
--George S. Claghorn, editor of Letters and Personal Writings of Jonathan Edwards
Yale University Press Publishing Web Site, February, 2004
Summary
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author
of the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth
century.
In this definitive and long-awaited biography, Jonathan Edwards emerges as both a great American and a brilliant
Christian. George Marsden evokes the world of colonial New England in which Edwards was reared--a frontier civilization
at the center of a conflict between Native Americans, French Catholics, and English Protestants. Drawing on newly
available sources, Marsden demonstrates how these cultural and religious battles shaped Edwards�s life and thought.
Marsden reveals Edwards as a complex thinker and human being who struggled to reconcile his Puritan heritage with
the secular, modern world emerging out of the Enlightenment. In this, Edwards�s life anticipated the deep contradictions
of our American culture.
Meticulously researched and beautifully composed, this biography offers a compelling portrait of an eminent American.
