Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 75:2 (Fall 2013)
Article: The Unified Operations Of The Human Soul: Jonathan Edwards’s Theological Anthropology And Apologetic
Author: Jeffrey C. Waddington

The Unified Operations Of The Human Soul: Jonathan Edwards’s Theological Anthropology And Apologetic

Jeffrey C. Waddington

This study endeavors to examine and critically assess the theological anthropology of Jonathan Edwards with a view to considering how this anthropology coheres with his apologetic methodology. Specifically, the question has been raised whether Edwards’s doctrine of man is consistent with the picture painted of him by John Gerstner, that Edwards was the epitome of the classical apologist. I argue in this dissertation that Edwards practiced an eclectic apologetic and apologetic self-awareness. In other words, Edwards was a child of his training and time.

Chapter 1 deals with John Gerstner’s portrait of Edwards as standing within the classical Christian tradition in general with regard to the relationship of theology to philosophy. In chapter 2 Edwards’s understanding of man as made in the image of God is assessed, especially the claim that Edwards held to a form of the donum superadditum. In chapter 3 Edwards’s understanding of man’s knowledge of God, both in nature and in Scripture, is examined. Chapter 4 is an in-depth investigation of how Jonathan Edwards understood the relation of man’s intellect to his will. In the fifth and final chapter Edwards’s apologetic ruminations are evaluated as to whether they provide compelling evidence of Edwards as a classical apologist. At times Edwards appears to follow a classical approach to the defense of the faith, and at other times he departs from it. In the end Edwards is his own man and not a member of any particular apologetic school.