Editor's Comments

Walter J. Chantry


On October 5 it will be 300 years since the birth of Jonathan Edwards. His name is recalled with fondness by multitudes who are longing for revival and by others who have a continuing vision for world-wide missions. His writings are still widely read and his theology warmly appreciated among Reformed people. So, too, are his writings still studied by liberal theologians and secular philosophers. However dimly his work and thought are understood by historians who write school books, his name is seldom missing in American history texts which comment on the Colonial era of the Americas.

There is so much in Edwards' history and his writings which contributes to issues of current debate in modern society and in the modern church!

Although he pastored a Puritan congregation in a small New England town, Edwards entered into a vital international fellowship of the saints. Considering himself an Englishman, he was an avid reader of philosophical, scientific and theological publications from the Europe of his day, and especially from Britain. He actively corresponded with Evangelical leaders of Scotland and England. But then, ever since the days of the Apostles, a love of Christ's universal kingdom has stimulated amazing worldwide communication.

There was a valuable cross-fertilization from geographically distant churches. Scotland deeply influenced the New England vision for missions among American Indians. In turn, Edwards' Life of David Brainerd had a powerful influence on missions from the English-speaking world for over 100 years. And Edwards' accounts of American revivals stirred British interest (including that of Wesley) in revivals.

Last month we considered the ?new perspective? on Paul against the backdrop of Scripture. Some who have recently adopted this view have done so to assist their conscious desires to view the children of believers without evangelistic concern for them. A major concern of Jonathan Edwards, shown in his letters to his own children and in his conflict with traditions in Puritan New England, was to maintain a high consciousness of the necessity of bringing the children of believers to conversion. This he believed to be essential for the salvation of these children, and, in the end, he found their conversion to be a necessary prerequisite for admitting them to the full privileges and responsibilities of church membership. Anything less, he thought, would diminish the evangelicalism of the Protestant Reformation.

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