The Freedom of the Will (Great Awakening Writings (1725-1760))

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.