Logos Free Book of the Month for October 2019 – Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will

For the month of October Logos is giving away a copy of Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will. This is the first volume of the forty-one volume Yale University Press edition of Edward’s works. individual volumes retail for $29 or more each in paperback (hardbacks are difficult to find and very expensive), so the three volumes Logos is offering for tree and almost free and a great deal. Logos would be happy to sell you the entire Works of Jonathan Edwards (41 vols.) for a big chunk of money.

In the first volume of the series Freedom of the Will, Paul Ramsey “provides a fresh analysis of Edwards’ theological position, includes a study of his life and the intellectual issues in the America of his time, and examines the problem of free will in the philosophical context of today and in connection with Leibniz, Locke, and Hume.” Although you can get this book free in a variety of formats on the internet, this is a new translation. For example, I have the Banner of Truth Works of Jonathan Edwards, but this is a reprint of a translation first published 1834.This Yale series was originally publish in 1957 but revised in 2009.

For an additional $1.99, you can add volume 8 in the series, Ethical Writings. From the Logos website: “This volume contains two major works of Jonathan Edwards: an unpublished text of a series of sermons he preached in 1738, known as Charity and Its Fruits, and his Two Dissertations: I. Concerning the End for Which God Created the World and II. On the Nature of True Virtue, published posthumously in 1765. Together these writings set out the principles of Edwards’ ethical reflections. The text of the sermon series is drawn from three sources. The primary text is an early nineteenth-century transcription of Edwards’ sermon booklets now in the Andover-Newton Theological School’s collection. Passages published in Tyron Edwards’ 1852 edition, and partial transcriptions by Joseph Bellamy found in three fragments among his papers, have been used where the Andover copy is incomplete. The Bellamy fragments are reproduced in their entirety in a critical appendix, along with examples showing the editor’s use of the three sources in construing this definitive text for the Yale edition.”

Add volume 18, Notes on Scripture for $4.99. “This is the first complete edition of the private biblical notebook that Jonathan Edwards compiled over a period of nearly thirty-five years. Edwards’ “Notes on Scripture” confirms the centrality of the Bible in his thought and provides more balance to earlier depictions of his writings that emphasized the scientific and philosophical while overlooking the biblical dimension. In this critical edition the entries appear in the order in which Edwards wrote them, beginning with a short commentary on Genesis 2:10–14 that he penned in 1724, and ending with his last entry, Number 507 on the Book of Solomon’s Song, written two years before his death. This volume provides direct access to one of America’s most influential religious thinkers. Edwards’ entries range across the entire scriptural canon and reveal his creativity in the interpretation of particular biblical texts and his fascination with typology.”

If you are unfamiliar with Edwards, you might check out the Faithlife Author Guides, Jonathan Edwards: A Guide to His Life and Writings, edited by Jessica Parks (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2017). This little guide is only $4.99 and will give you a quick overview. Another good resource for the Edwards beginner is Christian History Magazine Issue 77: Jonathan Edwards: Puritan Pastor & Theologian (2002). This magazine is only $1.95 in the Logos Library.

These valuable resources are only free (or almost free) through October 31, 2019.

 

 

 

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