Freedom of the Will [Paperback]

Jonathan Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2009

Jonathan Edwards is celebrated as America's finest Christian thinker. In FREEDOM OF THE WILL he presents an analysis of Calvinist and Arminian ideas about free will. In doing so, he pursues a relentless logic and cites hundreds of pieces of evidence from Scripture. Edwards was a preacher and missionary in colonial America. The son of a minister, he attended Yale while still a teenager and went on to study theology. While he was pastoring a church in Northampton, the Great Awakening reached the town. Amid the fervor of religious revival, Edwards preached both encourage to true Christianity and to alert congregations to superficial imitations. Toward the end of his life, Edwards was appointed president of Princeton University. FREEDOM OF THE WILL is Jonathan Edwards' masterpiece of profound analysis and his most important contribution to Christian thought.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Edwards (1703-1758) is by far the best known American theologian. After graduating from and teaching at Yale University, he began a very fruitful ministry at Northampton, MA. The church was the scene of the explosive revival of 1734, 35, and burned fiercely for God under Edwards for several years. Edwards then went to pastor the lowly Indians. But at last he was called to be the first president of Princeton University, where he served only 5 weeks, dying of smallpox. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Eremitical Press (September 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1926777018
• ISBN-13: 978-1926777016
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Calvinist

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The master work of America's greatest theologian., July 14, 2003

By 

miked99 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Freedom of the Will (Great Awakening Writings (1725-1760)) (Hardcover)

Jonathan Edwards is one of the greatest thinkers in American history, and while "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" has become his most famous work, "The Freedom of the Will" is his best. Two and a half centuries after Edwards wrote it, this book is still the premiere and most thorough argument for the complete sovereignty of God.

"The Freedom of the Will" is a challenging read and might be too hard for people new to the debate between Calvinists and Arminians. It would take too long to outline the entire argument Edwards makes or recap every point he touches on, but what follows are some examples of the ideas and questions raised by Edwards in this book.

1) It is alleged by Arminian belief that a person or action cannot be morally good (or bad) if the agent performing the action is incapable of doing otherwise. But can God be evil? The Bible teaches that He is not only holy, just, and perfect, but that He knows everything that has happened and everything that is to come. So can He do or be evil, or is His will and nature necessarily determined to be perfectly good? If God is capable of doing evil, and not necessarily good, then how can He assure us that He will be perfect for all eternity (if one day, He might choose not to be)? And if He is necessarily determined to be perfectly good forever and cannot be otherwise, does this make God any less holy, perfect, and morally virtuous? As a corollary to this, if He is no less praise-worthy by being necessarily holy, are we, as fallen human beings born into sinfulness, any less blame-worthy if we are necessarily inclined to evil, incapable of willing what is truly good?

2) Another area Edwards focuses on is discussing the Arminian contention that the will actually is free. Edwards takes this idea on by challenging what exactly is meant by the will, and therefore our actions, being "free". His reasoning would lead to questions along these lines: If a starving man is placed at a table with an appetizing pizza on his right, and an utterly foul concoction (insert your own horror) on his left, is he really free in what he wills to eat? What could possibly make this man choose to eat what was on his left rather than the pizza, other than some overriding, external threat? The only way this man might choose what was on the left, barring the overriding threat, would be his will being utterly indifferent to the two choices, and in this case, what kind of man would this be? (Imagine him eating the concoction with no care in the world, much as human beings so often can be seen going about sinning.)

Now, say humans were deceived and fell into a state where what appeared to be appetizing to us was really what made us sick whereas what was truly holy and good, appeared as unappetizing to us as the horrible concoction. (This deceptive state is what we fell into with the Fall of our original parents through their sin.) What would ever make us will to eat that disgustingly wretched concoction on the left? Even after we've tried it and seen how wonderful it is despite how it may appear to our sinful natures, we still go back to the poisonous pizza of sin over and over again. (And whereas the pizza and the concoction of this analogy are so clearly different, sin and God's holiness are infinitely more opposite to each other.) Why do we continue returning to what makes us sick? Why do we continue to see these things as beautiful and appetizing while the holiness of what God has commanded appears so unattractive? Someone says, "Just eat the nasty thing... you know it is good for you, ignore its appearances," and I cry out, "But I just can't!" (Or, as the Apostle Paul put it, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" - Romans 7:24)) Not only can't I eat what is so repulsive to me, but in actuality I don't want or will to, whereas I will to eat the "pizza" because I delight in my sins. It is only by some supernatural changing of my heart and mind that I will ever choose what is truly holy and good. But, oh, how wonderful to know that there is someone who makes this change for us, contrary to our corrupted will.

These questions touch on just a few of the topics concerning the human will and God's sovereignty that Jonathan Edwards discusses in "The Freedom of the Will". I've heard it explained that the Calvinist doctrine on these matters is like a candy with a hard exterior but a soft, delicious center, and I believe that's an accurate way to put it. With this book, Jonathan Edwards comes as close to helping Christians break through that hard exterior as any man ever has.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Work, June 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Freedom of the Will (Great Awakening Writings (1725-1760)) (Hardcover)

This is truly one of the greatest works written. Daniel Webster wrote: "The Freedom of the Will" by Mr. Edwards is the greatest achievement of the human intellect." The London Quarterly Review wrote about this work: "His gigantic specimen of theological argument is as near to perfection as we may expect any human composition to approach. He unites the sharpness of the scimetar [sic] and the strength of the battle-axe." A former President of Princeton said that Edwards was "The greatest thinker that America has produced."

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most profound study from America's premier philosopher, December 18, 2008

By 

Stratiotes Doxha Theon "2 Thes 2:15" (Richmond, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Freedom of the Will (Paperback)

We are free to do what we desire - but our desires are enslaved to sin ensuring that our "will" is no longer truly free. So argues Jonathan Edwards, considered by many to be America's premier philosopher and theologian. Few have given this difficult topic the kind of attention and logical sophistication that Dr. Edwards did in this treatise. Whether we are students of Calvin, Luther, Augustine, or Aquinas, there is much in this work we can appreciate from this giant of American intellects. This is not for the casual theological/philosophical mind but requires a great deal of concentration to grasp. The somewhat anachronistic 18th century language gives the work even more challenge. But the deeper appreciation of God's providence and grace will be it's own reward. These are not the doctrines of fatalism as another reviewer has described. These are the doctrines of a God who reaches out to mankind in our helpless state. It is by grace and grace alone that we can know and serve God only by the movement of His Holy Spirit in our lives. There may be subtle differences between the great thinkers on this topic (mentioned earlier) but none deny the essential truth that mankind is lost and finds no rest until it rests in Him. Essential reading for philosophers and theologians alike.