Jonathan Edwards: Philosophical Theologian

Abstract

Edwards is enigmatic in that he combined a quasi-Fundamentalist view of scripture with a philosophical approach demanding fidelity to reason and experience. He was ahead of his time in using philosophy for resolving theological issues and in rigor of thought he had no equal before peirce. The basis for regarding him as a major philosophical theologian is set forth through his conception of God as self-Communicating being, His reworking of the ontological and cosmological arguments, And his conception of the "new sense of the heart" and religious affections as criteria for judging the validity of the great awakening.