Jonathan Edwards's Turn from the Classic-Reformed Tradition of Freedom of the Will (New Directions in Jonathan Edwards Studies)

How we present Jonathan Edwards and his intellectual relationship to his classic-Reformed tradition matters. Our approach to historical theology must consult and interpret the primary sources for an honest appraisal of where Edwards stood in this vigorously guarded tradition.There are scholarswho contend that Edwards wasa'Calvinist' but who differ on whether that means Edwards wasa static thinker and necessitarian or whether he wasa ni nnovator and early dynamic process thinker. Others point to the distinction between the historical Calvin and the confessional developments after Calvin, developments which reached back to medieval thinkers, such as Duns Scotus. Thesescholars hold that authors in the classic-Reformed line after Calvin made use of Scotistic innovations,inanswer to the challenges of their day, for instance, by the Jesuits, Arminians, and Socinians. There are at least three previous studies that Iw ish to mention which have understood the historical relevance of studying the Harvard and Yale curricula in order to understand the extenttowhich the medieval-European model of education stands behind the New England schools. Samuel Eliot Morison produced a two-volume studyc alled, Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress, 1936). The Appendix BtoPart Twocontains all extant Harvard commencement theses and quaestiones and is as such invaluable. Phillip John Fisk offers a critical reappraisal of Jonathan Edwards's Freedom of Will, interpreting Edwards from within his own tradition, Reformed Orthodoxy, avoiding the outdated paradigms of the conventional interpretation of Edwards and his tradition, a so-called deterministic, reconciliationist Calvinism, and demonstrating from primary sources, such as Harvard and Yale commencement theses and quaestiones, that Edwards parted ways with Reformed Orthodoxy's robust and highly nuanced view of freedom of will, contingency, and necessity. -- Back cover Philip J. Fisk offers a critical reappraisal of Jonathan Edwards's Freedom of Will, interpreting Edwards from within his own tradition, Reformed Orthodoxy (±1550-1750), avoiding the outdated paradigms of the conventional interpretation of Edwards and his tradition, a so-called deterministic, reconciliationist Calvinism, and demonstrating from primary sources, such as Harvard and Yale commencement theses and quaestiones, that Edwards departed ways with Reformed Orthodoxy's robust and highly nuanced view of freedom of will, contingency, and necessity