Cambridge Companion Again

Harry Stout's article in the Cambridge Companion to Jonathan Edwards examines the relationship between history and revival in Edwards' theology. It is a good summary article, it introduces the material well and it outlines some of the thinking that Stout develops at more length in his introduction to Works, 22. Stout traces Edwards tripartite discussion of history - the history of redemption on earth and the related history of heaven and hell. Stout notes the frequent mention of angels in the story (when will someone write a work on Edwards and angels? PhD thesis someone?) on p.131.

Stout concludes:

'By 1745 the evangelical campaign for the trans-Atlantic world became derailed in the face of renewed war with France, and Edwards would become derailed by his own congregation who dismissed him with rancor on both sides. Edwards would not live to see another awakening, and he went to his grave disappointed and a failure.' (141)