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The same Weekly Standard <\/i> review mentioned in a previous post gives a brief summary of the editorial introduction to Volume 21 of the Works of Jonathan Edwards <\/i> , written by Sang Hyun Lee: \u201cLee claims that Edwards marks a stunning departure from the Western theological tradition by the way he repudiated deism. Eighteenth-century deists depicted a watchmaker god who observes from a distance his self-sustaining world, and Western theology in a similar manner has represented God as \u2018externally\u2019 but not \u2018internally\u2019 related to the world: \u2018What happens in the world does not affect God.\u2019 According to Lee, Edwards instead portrayed God as creating the world in order to enlarge His own being outside Himself. In theological terms, this means repeating His glory in mundane human life and nature. Thus, by their good works, God\u2019s people participate in His life, which makes what people do MATTER in the most vital ways.\u201d <\/p>\n
There appears to be something interesting going on here, but the reviewer doesn\u2019t quite hit on it. I\u2019m not sure what \u201cenlarge His own being outside Himself\u201d might mean, nor what \u201crepeating His glory\u201d involves. But it seems altogether plausible that Edwards, in responding to deism, would have noticed that the Western theological tradition had not distinguished itself sufficiently from the deist position and had left itself open to rationalistic attack. And it seems altogether plausible that Edwards would have sought resources in Trinitarian theology for grasping the nature of God\u2019s relation with the world. To get the full picture, run out and get your own copy of volume 21, a bargain at $95. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The same Weekly Standard review mentioned in a previous post gives a brief summary of the editorial introduction to Volume 21 of the Works of Jonathan Edwards , written by Sang Hyun Lee: \u201cLee claims that Edwards marks a stunning departure from the Western theological tradition by the way he repudiated deism. Eighteenth-century deists depicted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\n