Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God (Theologians on the Christian Life)

by Dane C. Ortlund

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2014

Overview

Jonathan Edwards is widely hailed as the greatest theologian in American history. In Edwards on the Christian Life, Dane Ortlund invites us to explore the great eighteenth century pastor’s central passion: God’s resplendent beauty. Whether the topic was the nature of love, the preeminence of Scripture, or the glory of the natural world, the concept of beauty stood at the heart of Edwards’s theology and permeated his portrait of the Christian life. Clear and engaging, this accessible volume will inspire you to embrace Edwards’s magnificent vision of what it means to be a Christian: enjoying and reflecting on the beauty of God in all things.

Contents

Top Highlights

“While we normally use the word beauty to speak of what is physically beautiful, Edwards uses beauty as a moral category.⁸ Not only the eyes but also the soul has an aesthetic capacity. The beauty of God is not captured with a camera but enjoyed with the heart.” (Page 25)

“Love without truth is rootless. Truth without love is lifeless. Neither is true Christianity. True divine love is never divorced from, but always founded on, God-revealed truth.” (Page 68)

“Right at the heart of what Edwards contributes to historic Christianity is his insistence that Christian living is not mere mental assent, or association with a particular church, or scrupulous behavior monitoring, or anything else that is able to remain relatively external to the believer. Christian living is participation in God, in ‘the supreme loveliness of his nature.’³⁴ And if what defines God supremely is his beauty or loveliness or excellency, then to participate in the triune life of God is to be swept up into, and to exude, that heavenly resplendence. A Christian is one who is being beautified. This is because Christian living is fundamentally participation in the unceasing explosion of delighted intratrinitarian joy and love.” (Page 31)

“A pastor, above all, is to provide for people a glimpse of the radiant loveliness of Christ. All their preaching, discipling, counseling, and administrating are channels through which divine luminosity is beheld. The fundamental calling of leaders of God’s people is not only to be under-shepherds of the chief Shepherd but also under-beautifiers of the chief Beautifier.” (Page 32)

Product Details

• Title: Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God
• Author: Dane C. Ortlund
• Series: Theologians on the Christian Life
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2014
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758; Christian life; Aesthetics › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9781433535055, 9781433535062, 9781433535079, 9781433535086, 143353505X, 1433535068, 1433535076, 1433535084
• Resource ID: LLS:DWRDSCHRSTNBTGD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T23:26:57Z

About Dane C. Ortlund

Dane C. Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) is senior vice president for Bible publishing at Crossway. He serves as an editor for the Knowing the Bible series and the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, and is the author of several of books, including Edwards on the Christian Life and Mark: A 12-Week Study.