One of America's Original Minds

Central to Edwards' theology is his equation of holiness with beauty, and beauty is in turn interpreted as the harmonious reconciliation of opposites. A second motif in his work is the concept by which he grasps the relation among God's beauty, the beauty of the soul and the beauty of nature, and this concept is image:

This is an ancient vox populi of late-antique Platonism and all its Christian continuations. In this tradition, the notion is theologically and metaphysically loaded; it carries its full burden as it appears in Edwards' language, shaping not merely his theory of the beautiful, that the implement itself (Jenson 16).

In his "Personal Narrative," Edwards begins with a consideration of his stimulate concerns about the soul from his childhood. In his own view, he sour away(p) from the ideas expressed in his childhood and "went on in ways of sin" (Edwards 290). Part of what Edwards sought in his fluctuation of sin and missed in his theology at an wee age was what he calls "affection and delight" (Edwards 290). Edwards persists and eventually is direct to understand Christ in a different way, so that his own redemption becomes something in which he can delight. He comes to see the relationship between holiness and beauty, something that is denied by many a(prenominal) other theologians or expressed in such a different way that they seem to be t

Edwards, Jonathan. "Personal Narrative."

I have loved the doctrines of the gospel; they have been to my soul like green pastures. The gospel has seemed to me to be the richest treasure, the treasure that I have most desired and longed that it energy dwell richly in me (Edwards 296).

I had an inward, sweet smack of these things, that at times came into my heart; and my soul was led away i pleasant views and contemplations of them. And my mind was greatly engaged to evanesce my time in reading and meditating on Christ, and the beauty and excellence of his person, and the lovely way of salvation (Edwards 291).

Edwards also repeats once more and again his own inner feeling of relish, longing to know God, longing to understand, and "great longing for the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the humanness" (Edwards 294). Here as well Edwards uses the language of sensory experience to describe the process experienced or desired. If he hears something aureate to the advancement of Christ's kingdom, "my soul eagerly attached to it," and the fact would " urge and refresh me" (Edwards 294). The natural world provides Edwards with evidence of God's presence and with a way to commune with God. He describes his own habit of a great deal retiring to a solitary place on the banks of the Hudson, immaterial the city, "for contemplation of divine things and secret converse with God" (Edwards 295). When he reads the Scriptures, there is a physical reaction as he feels a harmony between his heart and "those sweet and correctly words" (Edwards 295).

The appearance of everything was altered: there seemed to be, as it were, a calm, sweet cast, or appearance of divine glory, in roughly everything (Edwards 292).

The sensory nature of much of this imagery should be clear--the flowers, the excitement of the sun, and even the various emotional responses to the concept of holiness (which to Edwards is a palpable reality and not merely a concept).

Edwards compares the feelings he has towar
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