This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Ad maiorem dei gloriam : an examination of Jonathan Edwards' account of God's self- glorification. Holmes, Stephen Ralph The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. 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Sep. 2021 Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam An Examination ofJonathan Edwards' Account of God's Seýf-Glorification, Stephen Ralph Holmes King's College, London nry. the Degree ofDoctor -I nesis submittedfor of Philosophy 1999 cz Abstract: -, -, - Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam: An Examination ofJonathan Edwards'Account of God's Setf-Glorification This work. seeks to explore the theological logic and the appropriatenessof Edwards' mature statement of God's purposes in creating, arguing the thesis that at a crucial point Edwards fails to let his account be sufficiently informed by Trinitarian logic derived from the gospel story. After the introductory material, the development of that mature statement is considered,through a series of Miscellanies entries, before a fuller discussion of End of Creation, in which Edwards' final position, that God created the world for His own self-glorification, is expounded. A brief series of comparisons servesto illuminate the distinctive features of Edwards' account (notably its Trinitarian grammar), and to introduce the line of questioning that is adopted. The central chapters of the thesis examine the working out of this position in Edwards' accounts of creation and redemption, indicating in passing how this theme casts light upon his theological concerns, but chiefly examining the adequacy of the basic account. The result of this is to suggestthat there is a flaw in the area of perdition, and so Edwards' writings on hell are consideredin order to refine the criticism. The thesis concludes that Edwards - failed to apply -his own'Tiinitarian grammar of glorification to his account of hell, and so suggestsan inconsistency in his theology here. This conclusion is used to explore the study of Edwards as a theologian, and also aspectsof the Reformed tradition of theology. *3 Table of Contents: Bibliography ITME PAGE I ................. ABSTRACT: 3 ............................ .......................... TABLE OF CONTENTS: 4 ........... .......................... AcKNoWLFDGEMENTS: 6 ........................................................................................................................ PREFATORY NOTE: LANGUAGE, QUOTATIONS ABBREVIATIONS 9 AND ................................................. CHAPTER 1: JONATMANEDWARDS, THEOLOGIAN? ............................................................... 1.1 PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF RECENT LITERATURE 12 ....... .................................................... 1.2 RECENT PHILOSOPHICALINTERPRETATION OF EDWARDS 19 ............................................................ 1.3 EDWARDS AMERICAN CULTURE RECENT SCHOLARSHIP 25 AND IN .................................................. 1.4 RECENTTHEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS EDWARDS 28 OF ............................................................. 1.5 OTHERCURRENTS STUDY EDWARDS 32 IN THE OF ........................................................................... CHAPIER2. ANINCREASINGVISIONOFGLORY. EDWARDS'QUESTFORGOD'S FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE 35 ............................................. ...... ................ ...................................... 2.1 THE DOCTRINALBACKGROUND 36 ................................................................................................... 2.2 THE DEVELOPMENT EDWARDS'POSITION MISCELLANIES 40 OF IN THE ........................................... POSITION END CREATION 48 2.3 EDWARDS'MATURE IN THE OF ........................................................... GLORY GOD:A HISTORICAL SYSTEMATICCOMPARISON 63 2.4 THE OF AND ........................................ CHAPTER3: NO CREATURE SO SMALL AND ABJECT. THE DISPLAY OF GOD'S GLORY IN THE CREA TED ORDER 76 .................................... ......... ................................................................. HOBBES. 79 3.1 EDWARDS'METAPHYSICS, OR'CALVINISM AND .......................................................... MEANING CREATION 95 3.2 TYPOLOGYAND THE OF .............................................................................. 116 CIIAPTER4. 'GOD GLORIFIED IN TIIE IVORKOFREDEAIPTION ..................................... 4.1 THE BASIS REDEMPTION: ELECTION CHRISTOLOGY 118 OF AND ..................................................... 4.2 THE PROCESS REDEMPTION: ATONEMENT 129 OF ........................................................................... 4.3 THE PROCESS REDEMPTION: CONVERSION 143 OF ............................................................................ 4.4 THE PSYCHOLOGY CONVERSION 146 OF ........................................................................................... 4.4 CONCLUSION PROSPECT 151 A.ND ........................ .................... ...................................................... DAMNATION OFSINNERS CHAPTER5: GOD'S SELF-GLORIFICA TIONIN THE ............ 155 VISIONS HELL EARLYEIGHTEENTH CENTURY 157 5.1 OF IN THE ........................................................... 5.2 EDWARDS'DOCTRINE RHETORIC HELL 165 AND OF ......................................................................... 5.3 THE USE HELL PROMOTINGGOD'S GLORY 169 OF IN ....................................................................... 5.4 EDWARDS'CALVINISM IN ORIGINALSIN 175 ................................................................................... CONCLUDINGREFLECTIONS 5.5 .......................................................................................................185 e,A- CHAPTER 6. SOLIDEO GLORJAI 192 . ........................... .................... ......................................... 6.1 SUMMARYOF FOREGOINGARGUMENT 192 THE ............................................................................... 6.2 THE CROSS THELocus OFGOD'S SELF-GLORIFICATION 194 As ...................................................... 6.3 THE INTERPRETATION EDWARDS'THEOLOGY 199 OF ...................................................................... 6.4 THE HISTORY REFORMEDTHEOLOGY 207 OF ................................................ ... .............................. 6.5 THEOLOGIAREFORMATA SEMPERREFORMANDA 222 ET ................................................................. BIBLIOGRAPHY 225 .................................... ....................................................................... ................. JONATHANEDWARDS 225 .......................................... ............................................................................ OTHERPRIMARY SOURCES 226 .............................................................................................................. SECONDARYWORKS 228 ........................................................................................................................ S' Acknowledgments: A particular form of inflation affects the world of advertising, whereby superlatives become devalued in currency - an example that any traveller on London's tube system cannot have missed concernsmusic compilations; the issuers of 'The Best 60s Album in the World - Ever' should have realised the trouble they were storing up for themselves, and their announcementof 'The Best 60s Album in the World Ever IF was greeted with appropriate hilarity. I mention this only becausea similar form of inflation seems to have been active in Ph.D. stu&nts' acknowledgements to their supervisors. To merely thank Dr X or Professor Y might today be in danger'of suggesting barely-concealed antipathy; to reach for words that express a sense of a happier and more fruitful relationship than most would result in phrasesthat, to my English ears at least, would sound over-effusive in the extreme. When, therefore, I say that my time and my relationship with Professor Colin Gunton have been very happy, that I greatly value his friendship, and that the manner of his supervision and the quality of his advice have contributed substantially to whatever value may be found in this thesis, I can only ask that the words are not discounted, but taken in their natural sense. I am also greatly indebted to the Revd Dr John E. Colwell. John was formerly my tutor at SpurgeonsCollege, and first introduced me to the works of JonathanEdwards. I have been teaching at Spurgeons