In this episode, Kyle introduces the theological vision of Jonathan Edwards and the challenges he faced in navigating the realities of a new world. Edwards sought to faithfully engage with the Reformed theological tradition while reimagining it in the context of an enlightenment age. He emphasized the concepts of emanation and remanation, where God’s glory flows out to creation and is reflected back to God. Kyle explains the three levels of Edwards’s theological vision: 1. God in and of himself, 2. Creation to perfection, and 3. Religious affection and the knowledge and love of God.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Edwards’s Theological Vision
02:20 Emanation and Remanation: God’s Glory in Creation
04:04 Moving Beyond Creation: The Perfection of All Things
05:25 Religious Affection: Receiving and Rebounding God’s Love
06:31 The Three Levels of Edwards’s Theological Vision
07:53 Understanding Regeneration and the Regenerate Life
The Jonathan Edwards Project
I started something I call “The Jonathan Edwards Project” years ago as an attempt to make the writings of Jonathan Edwards more accessible. Edwards is an important figure in all sorts of ways, but he is often misread or commandeered to agendas that are foreign to his thinking. To understand evangelical theology, it is important to know Edwards’s thinking, but also critique it when needed. Here is a developmental list of resources I’ve published and edited for that end.
101 - Charity and Its Fruits: Living in the Light of God’s Love, edited and introduced by Kyle Strobel (Crossway, 2012). This is the best place to start reading Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards: Spiritual Writings Classics of Western Spirituality Series edited with Ken Minkema and Adriaan Neele (Paulist Press, 2019). This is a collection of key texts on Edwards’s spirituality. This is a great volume for key selections from across Edwards’s writings.
201 - Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards (IVP, 2013). This tries to capture the vision of early evangelical spirituality.
301 - I’m working on this right now, and I’m really excited about it. More to come.
401 - Jonathan Edwards: An Introduction to His Thoughtco-authored with Oliver Crisp (Eerdmans, 2018). This introduction to Edwards’s thought is used in graduate school courses on Edwards. It is an introduction, and so it does not assume knowledge of Edwards’s thought specifically, but it does assume an academic background.
501 - Jonathan Edwards’s Theology: A Reinterpretation (T&T Clark, 2013). This is a re-worked version of my dissertation on how to read Edwards’s theology. It serves as a methodological work on reading Edwards as a Reformed theologian.
Other works:
Reformed Dogmatics in Dialogue: The Theology of Karl Barth and Jonathan Edwards co-edited with Uche Anizor (Lexham Press, 2022).
Regeneration, Revival, & Creation: Religious Experience and the Purposes of God in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards with Chris Chun (Pickwick Publications, 2020).
The Ecumenical Edwards: Jonathan Edwards and the Theologians (Ashgate Publishing, 2015).
