The Hermeneutics of Jonathan Edwards -- By: Samuel T. Logan, Jr.

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 43:1 (Fall 1980)
Article: The Hermeneutics of Jonathan Edwards
Author: Samuel T. Logan, Jr.


The Hermeneutics of Jonathan Edwards

Samuel T. Logan, Jr.

I. Introduction to the Hermeneutical Problem

Within the scope of one twelve-month period, at the very heart of the last century, America was presented, in artistic form, with two archetypal examples of the hermeneutical problem. These expressions perfectly summarized the intellectual concerns of that period of history which F. O. Matthiessen has called the “American Renaissance.” They also demonstrate the fabric of the American consciousness for the preceding two hundred years and they point toward its gradual disintegration during the following century.

The first example constitutes the artistic statement of purpose in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, THE SCARLET LETTER. In the preface to that novel, entitled “The Custom House,” Hawthorne describes the source of his concern in the novel. As he tells it, he had been serving as Customs Inspector in Salem when one day, bored with the mindless routine of the place, he went poking around in the dusty attic of the custom house. There he found many treasures—but let him describe his most fascinating discovery:

The object that most drew my attention, …was a certain affair of fine red cloth, much worn and faded. There were traces about it of gold embroidery, which, however, was greatly frayed and defaced; so that none, or very little, of the glitter was left…. This rag of scarlet cloth, …on careful examination, assumed the shape of a letter. It was the capital letter A. …how it was to be worn, or what rank, honor, and dignity, in by-past times, were signified by it, was a riddle which…I saw little hope of solving. And yet it strangely interested me. My eyes fastened themselves upon the old scarlet letter, and would not be turned aside. Certainly, there was some deep meaning in it, most worthy of interpretation, and which, as it were, streamed forth from

the mystic symbol, subtly communicating itself to my sensibilities, but evading the analysis of my mind.”1

Indeed it did interest him! And the meaning of the scarlet letter has interested thousands, perhaps millions of Americans—and others—ever since.

But what is important here is first, Hawthorne’s assumption about the nature of reality and second, his response to reality given his assumption. That little rag of scarlet cloth was not an autonomous, isolated datum of experience. It was meaningful—full of meaning—and, as Hawthorne tells the tale, he knew this immediately. The scarlet letter pointed beyond itself to a greater reality of which it was an integral part. And Hawthorne wrote a novel in r...

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