Jonathan Edwards: Lover of God is the first installment in a series of five by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney. The Essential Edwards Collection includes additional works on beauty, heaven and hell, the good life, and true Christianity.
If you have never met Jonathan Edwards before or if you are familiar with the name but have resisted the opportunity to meet him, this collection provides the perfect rendezvous point.
Volume one is a terrific summary of Edwards’ life as a pastor, theologian, philosopher, missionary, husband, father, and university president. Strachan and Sweeney skillfully weave brief Edwardsean citations throughout and include thought-provoking commentary.
Jonathan Edwards: Lover of God is filled with strengths and will receive wide readership. Each chapter concludes with an application that challenges readers to inculcate Edwardsean principles into daily living. And despite the constant emphasis on Edwards’ skill as a pastor and theologian, this work is quick to point out that Edwards was first and foremost a Christ-follower: “He was a Christian – not a super-Christian, not a man who walked an inch off of the ground, but a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who fought the same fight we do and loved the same God we love.”
4.5 stars
