Thursday, June 15, 2006

Edwards and Locke

William Morris goes into extraordinary background detail on Locke. I'm not in a position at the moment to write on the quality of his reading of Locke, but this does seem like a helpful comment:

'But while Edwards acknowledges the great enthusiasm with which he read Locke, he does not say that he was converted to Locke, or that he owned him as master. According to Hopkins, at no time did he own any man as master. An intellectual feast is not necessarily an intellectual enlightenment and is certainly not a spiritual conversion. The age was one of transition; the methods were eclectic, the place of Locke in the esteem of the college and in the curriculum was yet to be definitively determined.' The Young Jonathan Edwards, 165.

3 Comments:

Blogger Kim from Hiraeth said...

"An intellectual feast is not necessarily an intellectual enlightenment and is certainly not a spiritual conversion."

What a great line.

12:00 pm  
Blogger Michael McClenahan said...

I quite agree. Morris is full of great lines like this one - I should post some more.

12:07 pm  
Blogger Kim from Hiraeth said...

I think I need to read that book. . .

In the mean time, I'd love to read more of those great lines.

2:33 am  

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