Sweeney begins the book by examining the place of the Bible in eighteenth century colonial American life. He concludes that the society into which Edwards was born, “may have been the most biblically oriented and literate society in the world” (28), a society thoroughly saturated with the Bible every moment of the day, especially on Sundays. After a brief introduction to Edwards’s world, Sweeney moves to a discussion of Edwards’s early life in the first chapter, “Study to Shew Thyself Approved.” This chapter details Edwards’s early experience with the Bible and experimental religion, discussing especially the education Edwards received at home under his father Timothy, and during his collegiate years at Yale. This chapter also includes a discussion of Edwards’s conversion to Christianity, his first pastorate in New York City, and some of his earliest writings.

Chapter two, “Preach the Word,” opens with Jonathan’s arrival in Northampton to become the assistant pastor to the great Solomon Stoddard, later assuming the head pastor position after Stoddard dies in 1729. Here Sweeney gives us an up-close glimpse into Edwards’s life as pastor of Northampton: what his days were like, what his relationships with his congregation and with his family were like (I appreciate the very balanced discussion of Edwards’s family life, acknowledging how gentle and loving a father and husband he was, but making no pains to gloss over the fact that Jonathan Edwards was also a slave owner), and what he was like as a preacher, in structure, rhetoric, and mannerisms. “Search the Scriptures,” the third chapter of the book, narrows into a more focused look at Edwards’s intimate relationship with the Bible. It brings a rare discussion of Edwards’s exegetical methods, how he viewed the inspiration of Scripture, and the meticulous way in which he interpreted and applied Scripture in his ministry and writings.

Such application would come into controversy during the years of the Great Awakening revivals, which is the primary subject of chapter four, “Try the Spirits.” This chapter discusses the experimental religion aspect of Edwards’s thought and writings. In other words, it discusses Edwards’s answer to the question, “How does the Holy Spirit work in the life of a Christian, especially at conversion?” Chapter four ends with the sad tale of Edwards’s dismissal from the church at Northampton. Chapter five, “With All Thy Mind,” shifts the narrative away from the more practical elements of Edwards’s theology to the more theoretical and doctrinal. It discusses Edwards’s heaviest treatises, including Freedom of the Will, Original Sin, and Edwards’s two dissertations, The End for Which God Created the World and The Nature of True Virtue. But though these works are quite heady and hard to grasp, Sweeney does a remarkable job helping the reader better understand what Edwards was attempting to do through them.

Chapter six, “As the Waters Cover the Sea,” examines the post-Northampton years of Edwards’s life, including his work as a missionary to the Stockbridge Indians, and his brief stint as President of The College of New Jersey (later, Princeton) before his death in 1758. Most notable in this chapter is Sweeney’s discussion of Edwards’s influence and impact on modern missionary efforts, especially with the publication of his Life of David Brainerd. The final chapter of the book is entitled, “The Word of the Lord Endureth Forever.” Its focus is the legacy of Jonathan Edwards in the centuries since his death, including his impact on theological development before and after the American Revolution, his influence on nineteenth century American literature, and brief mention of his legacy today, very much alive in the resurgence of Reformed Theology taking place in Evangelical circles.

This final chapter concludes with seven theses that Douglas Sweeney offers on how to live today using insights learned from the life and ministry of Jonathan Edwards. These theses are quite helpful and are alone worth the price of the book. As he states in the introduction of the book, the point is not to impose eighteenth century religious life on twenty-first century Christians, but instead to see how modern Christians can foster the type of Bible-soaked spiritual lives that Jonathan Edwards was known for.

All in all, this book is a very fine introduction to Edwards and his ministry. If there are any faults in this book, it may be that it’s too brief! This especially pertains to chapter three, the chapter that closely examined Edwards’s relationship with the Bible. This area of Edwards’s work is sorely lacking in scholarly examination. I realize that such an examination is outside the purpose of the present volume, but there was enough of a tease that it left me wanting much more on this subject.

One of the biggest strengths of this book is that it is a spiritual biography that doesn’t end up in hagiography. Sweeney paints a realistic portrait of Edwards, warts and all, which is so vital in looking at saints from the past. It’s important to remember that, though they accomplished great things, they were human just as modern Christians are, all susceptible to the same faults and sins. Another strength of this book is that Sweeney accomplishes what he set out to do, and that is to present to Christians an account of Edwards’s life and work with an emphasis on how much Scripture influenced and guided everything that Edwards did. Such an accomplishment makes this volume one of the most approachable for the modern churchgoer who may have been intimidated by reading about an eighteenth century figure who lived in a world seemingly quite different from her own. This book would be perfect for church small groups and Sunday School classes who have an interest in church history or learning more about America’s greatest theologian.

It is with this in mind that the editors of Jonathan Edwards at Home and Abroad sought to gather a group of scholars to begin the conversation in hopes of sparking further study into this important topic. In the introduction of this volume, the problem the authors observed is further spelled out: “Much work remains to be done on the long-term significance of his life and ministry, the dissemination of his many writings (both published and unpublished), his roles as a clerical and intellectual exemplar, his influence outside the world of religion, the appropriation and re-appropriation of his remarkably resilient cultural authority, and the convergence of these developments into discernible intellectual and ecclesiastical movements” (xii). That one sentence represents generations of further Edwards studies.

The book is divided into three parts, each offering a broad lens from which to approach the study of Edwards’s legacy. Part one, entitled “Remembering Edwards’s Ministry,” is comprised of four essays looking at how Edwards is remembered as a pastor in eighteenth century New England. George Marsden, more qualified than anyone to do so, muses on the various challenges faced by Edwards’s biographers. Michael McClymond speculates on the probable cultural shifts that may have occurred had Edwards lived to finish his History of the Work of Redemption, self-described by Edwards as “a body of divinity in an entire new method.” Catherine Brekus discusses Edwards’s ministry to children, specifically in how he thought and ministered in terms of the salvation of children, and the controversies that later developed out of it. Concluding part one of this volume, Ava Chamberlain probes the “bad book” controversy, seeing this episode as less to do with reputations in the community and everything to do with cultural transformations related to sex and speech that were coming to a head in the late eighteenth century.

Part two of this collection focuses on the influence of Edwards on American culture at large. Mark Valeri looks at how Edwards, and those who followed him, were influential on the development of the American market economy. James German explores Edwards’s doctrine of depravity and how that played into early American politics. Charles Hambrick-Stowe discusses the marriage of Edwardsian piety and the burgeoning abolition movements, particularly in the activism of Samuel Hopkins, Sarah Osborn, and Lemuel Haynes. Rounding out part two, Sharon Kim and Amanda Porterfield contribute articles tracing Edwardsian influence into pop culture, the former in the world of nineteenth century woman’s fiction, the latter in the film Runaway Bride.

Part three takes us abroad to get a better idea of how Edwards was received outside America. David Bebbington begins this discussion with a survey of the countries most known as having been penetrated by Edwards, whether through influence or published works. D. Bruce Hindmarsh focuses in on England, particularly early evangelicals in England. Moving north on the island, Christopher Mitchell explores the well-known “Scottish connection” that Edwards developed, primarily looking at this connection through the six correspondents with whom Edwards formed the closest friendships. Andrew Walls and Stuart Piggins focus on how missionary efforts were sparked by Edwards and those who followed him, first through the publication of Life of Brainerd and later through the efforts of the various evangelical missionary societies. The final essay in this volume comes from M.X. Lesser, best known for the extensive annotated bibliographies on Edwards that he has compiled and edited. Naturally, then, he briefly discusses how Edwards’s works have traveled across the globe, and then gives an extensive list of Edwards’s works published abroad.

This collection of essays is very helpful in bringing the various issues regarding Edwards’s legacy into view. Indeed, there is something here for all types of scholarly pursuit and can be very useful in thinking through ways to bridge disciplines in knowing how Edwards’s works have been used since his death in 1758. Hopefully this book has started the conversation and furthered the interest in this very important, yet very neglected, study of Jonathan Edwards and his works.

Sticking with a theme of redefinition, Kidd also desires a slightly nuanced understanding of what makes one an evangelical Christian.  He considers the four-pronged approach of David Bebbington–conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism–to be slightly off, and instead argues for an evangelicalism defined by “persistent desires for revival, widespread individual conversions, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit” (xix).  This definition is crucial to the overall argument of the book, as the author sees this period as a fracas over the limits and boundaries of each of those three characteristics.

In making his case, the author begins by speaking to the influence of early New England Puritanism on later American evangelicalism and revivalism.  These latter two find their roots in the covenant renewals popular in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.  With the aid of printing campaigns and the proliferation of correspondence among clergy, localized covenant renewals would evolve into seasons of particular revival, the earliest appearing in Connecticut from 1720-1722.  Over the course of the next six decades, instances of revival would grow in frequency, effect, and religious fervor, again, reaching a pinnacle in the nearly New England-wide revival  of 1740-1743.

Not all colonial American Christians, lay or clergy, would welcome the new revivalism, and American evangelicalism would soon find itself split into three parties:  antirevivalists, moderates, and radicals.  Antirevivalists were critical of these new movements, fearing the dangers and likely conclusions of extreme expressions of enthusiasm, as well as having little patience with the wellspring of itinerant preachers who had no qualms with charging those critical of the revivals with the great crime of ministering while unconverted.  Moderate evangelicals welcomed the revival spirit, but with much caution.  They, too, understood the potential problems of charismatic excess and sought to draw boundaries around “legitimate” instances of revival.  The litmus test of revivalism for moderates would be defined in this way:  though “Authentic religious experiences might manifest themselves in various ways…they would always produce enduring, godly effects” (119).  Ecstatic experiences proved nothing if they did not result in a noticeable change in the way one lived and acted.

The bane of both these groups was, of course, the radicals.  Radicals practiced unrestrained itinerancy and some would even practice unrestrained exhortation, allowing untrained men, women, children, African American, and Native American Christians to preach and exhort.  Most characteristic of the radicals, however, was the extreme emotionalism that often accompanied, or was encouraged by, stirrings of revivalism.  Such emotionalism included “shaking, fits, and trances…involuntary motions or swooning” (131), and radicals soon began claiming that only those who experienced such heights could be assured that they were truly converted.

In telling the story of this first generation of American evangelicalism, Kidd relies on the vast extant source material from the era including diaries, pamphlets, books, personal correspondence, etc.  Though some of it can get quite repetitive, these types of first-hand accounts give much credence to the thesis that revivals were ongoing for the better part of the eighteenth century, rather than just a few short years in the middle of the century.  One problem with such reliance, however, is a lack of involvement with other social and cultural issues that may have influenced the onset of these episodes.  Though Kidd briefly mentions some types of these issues, i.e. an economic crisis that may have helped spur the 1740 revival in Massachusetts, there is no real explanation as to how these outside issues may have influenced or effected religious sentiments at the time.

This is also true with regard to wider intellectual currents in the eighteenth century.  Here, too, we see the limits of sticking with primary, first-hand source material.  It would have been particularly interesting and illuminating to have seen some discussion of the impact of Enlightenment thought, particularly on the moderates and the ways that the new paradigm factored into their desire to view the awakenings in terms of reason, virtue, and logical definition of the movement.  Again, some mention is hinted at, but there is not much of an attempt to synthesize the broader intellectual movement with the growth of American revivalism.

Despite these faults, The Great Awakening is a valuable introduction to the era and religious issues and currents at play in the early days of American evangelicalism.  Particularly useful is the constant interweaving of George Whitefield’s ministry through the various pockets of revival.  As the most notable figure during the awakenings, The Grand Itinerant naturally has prime of place in the overall narrative.  Whitefield is described as a brilliant preacher who sees a great deal of success in his travels around the Colonies, but Kidd is careful to stress that Whitefield should primarily be viewed as a catalyst in the towns he visited, rather than being the primary “soul-getter,” noting that most conversions happened after Whitefield had left town.

This book is also helpful in showing the impact of the New England revivals on the southern colonies, and particularly in aiding the growth of the Separatist movements.  Separatists united around the necessity for immediate, discernible conversions, and championed the right of the uneduated to preach and be ordained by the local church.  Much of this concern was born out of a perceived lack of purity in the antirevivalist, and even moderate churches, as well as wanting to decisively break from those who opposed so-called “excesses.”  While all Separatists could agree on these points, a rift would form over the issue of Baptism, causing the formation of the Baptist movement which would gain steam in the Middle Colonies and explode in the South, particularly in the nineteenth century.

Overall, Kidd has presented a delightful telling of the early American evangelical story that is rich in drama and anecdotal evidence.  Even if there are a few interpretive issues in the overall argument, The Great Awakening is a wonderful primer that will introduce the reader to the primary characters, issues, and effects of colonial American Christianity, as well as provide a useful framework for viewing the influence of evangelicalism on later American culture, particularly during the revolutionary and Civil War eras.

The majority of the new material in this volume is found through the juxtaposition of Edwards’s life with the life of Benjamin Franklin, in which Franklin serves as a sort of contemporary foil to Edwards.  He forsook the religion of his Puritan forebears, viewed the pursuit and accumulation of wealth as the primary goal of human life, and was thoroughly entrenched in Enlightenment science and thought.  Edwards, on the other hand, fervently defended the old religion, saw the glorification of God as man’s highest and chief end, and was also abreast and interested in the new thinking and ideologies that were making their way to the American colonies.  Unlike Franklin, however, Edwards does not elevate the Enlightenment emphasis on human reason to preeminent status.  Instead, he uses reason and scientific method to confirm what God teaches through Scripture and in nature.

With the details and minutiae of Edwards’s life and thought left to his larger work, Marsden here sweeps through the grand drama of his subject’s life, painting Edwards as a man who tirelessly held on to the old Puritan religion he inherited, despite new ideas and trends in religion coming over from Britain and the European continent. Edwards’s resolve would inevitably lead to strife with his extended family, other clergy, and his own congregation, although he would experience times of great joy and sweetness as in the awakenings of 1734-35 and 1740-42, and in seeing the piety and devotion of his wife and eleven children.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this shorter biography, other than the parallels between Franklin and Edwards, is the way in which Marsden uses events in Edwards’s life to talk about the larger social and cultural issues of eighteenth century New England.  These issues are certainly addressed at great length in the larger work, but here the rise of American individualism, relationships with Native Americans, the issue of slavery, in addition to the various religious issues–these are all covered in a bite-sized, yet revealing manner.  These then lead to the crescendo of the work, the ever-important “so what?” question.

The last chapter of the book, “What Should We Learn from Edwards?”, well-worth the small price of the book on its own, explores both the American cultural significance of Edwards, as well as the the religious impact of Edwards’s influence on later evangelicalism.  Before the revolution of 1776, Marsden argues that Edwards was deeply involved in an earlier revolution that would shape the future of American Christianity, a revolution we are still seeing the effects of today.  Marsden concludes this work by examining the lasting theological insights that Edwards pursued and which are shared and treasured by a number of religious traditions today.

Jonathan Edwards was truly a remarkable figure in American history, and a figure that we would do well not to forget.  Though a Puritan preacher from the pre-American republic days may seem distant and passé to us today, Marsden presents an Edwards that has much yet to say.  Succeeding in the goal he had for this book, this volume is a wonderful jumping off point for those who have never read anything on Edwards, especially church groups and American history students.  In addition, this book can serve as an excellent refresher and short reference volume for those who are involved in scholarly pursuits.  Very highly recommended.