Lec 6 Church History 2

hello Heroes um I'm not sure what's on your syllabus but uh we're doing lecture six called The Enlightenment and the church for the devotional I'd like to talk about Jonathan Edwards who was a solid Christian believer he was a solid Christian Pastor he was a great leader of the first Great Awakening he was also the greatest thinker ever to live on American soil he was a philosopher who was able to keep his Christian faith while using some of the principles of the Enlightenment how could he do this how could he hold together the teachings of

the Enlightenment and the historic Christian faith because the Bible is God's true written word and because Jesus is the truth as well as the way and the light I encourage you only as God leads you to prayerfully engage with the thinking of your day on the same basis the truth of God's word and under the lordship of Jesus who is the truth one of my 20th century Heroes John St said to immerse yourself in God's written word uh be soak it up like a totally saturated sponge just full of water so that's your devotional here's

the introduction there have been many developments in philosophy and science over the centuries it is beyond the scope of this course to examine all of them let alone their effect on the Christian faith I have chosen to examine the enlightenment in the church because it was such a pivotal time including the two revolutions American and French which I examine in another lecture there might be some discussion in the last lecture of other developments in the 19th through the 21st centuries but it is quite possible that as Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes there is nothing new Under

the Sun for examples of that see Herold OJ Brown's book on heresies which we used in church history one but also shows how old heresies keep coming back for now let's examine the enlightenments and the church and to understand the Enlightenment and the church we need to First understand the enlightenment so here is what Wikipedia has to say the Age of Enlightenment also called The Age of Reason and the enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and the 18th centuries the enlightenment featured a range of social ideas centered

on the value of knowledge learned by way of rationalism and of empiricism and political ideals such as natural law Liberty and progress Toleration and fraternity constitutional government and the formal separ ation of church and state and I will mention before I continue with Wikipedia's discussion of the Enlightenment that you can go to Wikipedia and anywhere where it is underlined and in blue if you want to study it further you can click on that word or phrase and read on it you will see how certain parts of it fit more with American government or the revolution

or documents and the French Revolution or documents the enlightenment was preceded by and overlaps the Scientific Revolution and the work of Johannes Kepler Galileo galile Francis Bacon Pierre gasen and Isaac Newton among others as well as the rationalist philosophy of deart Hobs Spinosa liet and John luck Som date the beginning of the Enlightenment to the publication of Renee dart's discourse on the method in 1637 with his method of systematically disbelieving everything unless there was a well-founded reason for accepting it and featuring his famous dicum kajo ergosum which translated says I I think therefore I am

others cite the publication of Isaac Newton's principia Mathematica 1687 sometimes I use the Italian form of pronunciation sometimes the old Latin pronunciation but anyway Newton's publication was the culmination of the Scientific Revolution and the beginning of the enlightenment European historians traditionally dated its beginning with the death of Louis the 14th of France in 1715 and its end with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 which is ironic since that would seem to indicate as I believe it does that the French Revolution had many irrational aspects to it many historians now date the end of

the Enlightenment as the start of the 17th century with the latest proposed year being the death of Emanuel Kant in 1804 in reality historical periods do not have clearly defined start or end dates Wikipedia continues philosophic philosophers and scientists of the period widely Circ culated their ideas through meetings at scientific acmis Masonic lodges again rather ironic literary salons coffee houses and in printed books journals and pamphlets again the use of movable type brought about by Gutenberg that started with Luther's German Bible the ideas of the Enlightenment undermine the authority of the monarchy and religious officials

and pave the way for the political Revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries a variety of 19th century movements including liberalism socialism that would lead to Communism and neoclassicism Trace their intellectual Heritage to the enlightenment the central doctrines of the enlighten M were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy and the power of religious authorities the enlightenment was marked by an increasing awareness of the relationship between the mind and the everyday media of the world and by an emphasis on the scientific method and reductionism along with an increased questioning of religious

Orthodoxy an attitude captured by kant's essay answering the question what is Enlightenment it in itself is turning the question back on itself where the phrase sapere AUD dare to know can be found and now I'd like to unpack the first two paragraphs of the wicked pedia introduction as I mentioned earlier you can see much of the American colonies and Early Republic of the United States in many of the words France took fraternity Beyond or against the church in its radical renunciation of the mon Monopoly of the Catholic Church deserved or undeserved paragraph two even with

the coun IL of Trent the Roman Catholic church had difficulty moving off its bondage to bureaucracy see lecture one and was rigid in its views some of the scientists such as Galileo did not see their discoveries as being contrary to their faith and here is Wikipedia's summary of Galileo's life Galileo de Vincento bonotti de galile February 15th 1564 to January 88th 1642 commonly referred to as Galileo galile or just mononymously as Galileo was an Italian astronomer physicist and engineer described as a polymath he was born in the city of Pisa where you have the Leaning

Tower then part of the Duke of Florence Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy modern era classical physics the scientific method and modern science Galileo and perhaps you've heard of the great books of the Western World which has since expanded beyond the Western world but in what I have it goes through the 19th century and is Greece and Rome and the Western world it's number 28 of the great books Galileo studied speed and velocity gravity and freefall the principle of Relativity inertia projectile motion and also worked in applied science and technology describing the

properties of the pendulum and hydrostatic balances he was one of the earliest Renaissance developers of the thermoscope and the inventor of various military compasses with an improved telescope he built he observed the stars of the Milky Way the phases of Venus the four largest satellites of Jupiter Saturn's rings lunar craters and sun spots he also built an early micro scope you can imagine the awe he felt of God the Creator Galileo's championing championing of capern heliocentrism meaning the sun is at the center of the Galaxy rather than Earth was met with the opposition from within

the Catholic church and even from some astronomers at the end of church history one I think I used the definition of Science by one of the co-founders of the Weather Channel who said science consists in correcting its most recent mistake okay so the fact that Galileo said the sun is at the center of the solar system we say it Solar Sun System system which we all accept now as an established fact the Catholic Church the Roman Inquisition in 1615 said no to Galileo Galileo respectfully said no the sun is at the center the Roman Inquisition

in 1615 concluded the Galileo's opinion contradicted accepted biblical interpretations such things as global warming these days if you do not agree with it you're called a climate denier and I happen to agree that there is climate change it's called The Four Seasons winter spring summer and fall and there is global warming it's called Summer and it is tied in with the solar periods you have minimum and maximum and I believe if I'm correct we're in a maximum now and there's one climatologist with a degree from Penn State who can point back to similar periods in

time even certain periods of hurricanes in a given year say oh yeah that's like 19 52 and you might have heard of a part of Antarctica that's close to falling off and going into the Antarctic ocean but do you know what they neglect to mention there's an active volcano on the ocean floor nearby sending up a lot of heat causing that to melt science consists of correcting its most recent mistake and the Catholic Church fought Galilee Galilea over this and Galileo later defended his views in dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems which appeared to

attack and ridicule Pope Urban VII thus alienating both the pope and the Jesuits remember they had sworn their allegiance to the Pope and they had strongly supported Galileo up until this point so maybe he could have gone about it a little differently he was Tried by the Inquisition found vehemently suspect of heresy and forced to recant you can imagine the heart pain that he had with that he spent the rest of his life under house arrest during this time he wrote two new Sciences primarily concerning kinematics and the strength of materials which I guess were

not controversial you can also learn some history by reading a subgenre of Science Fiction written in our time called alternate fiction where you can change one thing about history but still learn a lot of real history and there are many books in what is called the 1632 series including 1634 the Galileo Affair by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis I won't tell you any details go ahead and read it for yourself it's at the beginning of this lecture in the supplemental reading now Isaac Newton he held to a mixed view of Christian beliefs here is how

Wikipedia summarizes Newton's life sir meaning he was kned uh by royalty lived from 1642 until 1726 he was an English polymath meaning involved in many kinds of science that involved the use of mathematics I believed he was a mathematician a physicist an astronomer an alchemist which I don't think has the meaning it has today a theologian and an author Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the enlightenment that followed his book philosophia natural principia Mathematica which translated means mathematical principles of natural philosophy first published in 1687 achieved this first great unification in

physics and established classical mechanics Newton also made seminal contributions to Optics and shares credit with German mathematician got freed vilhm Li nits for formulating infinitesimal calculus even the word calculus scares me it sounds like something that happens in the dentist's office I'm just a Humanities guy my oldest daughter is great in science and Humanities youngest daughter just human Humanities but anyway though he developed calculus years before libbets he contributed to and refin the scientific method and his work is considered the most influential in bringing forth modern science here's what good old artificial intelligence has to

say to explore Isaac Newton's Christian testimony consider the following points Newton was deeply religious and wrote extensively on theology he believed in a rational God who created the universe and established natural laws Newton rejected the doctrine of the Trinity aligning with aryanism he viewed his scientific work as a way to understand God's creation meaning with uh uh ainus I understand that I might believe as opposed to Augustine this is me now I believe that I might understand returning to AI Newton wrote more on biblical interpretation than on science he believed that prophecy and scripture were

essential for Understanding God's plan which is good his faith influenced scientific inquiries and philosophical views which is good Newton's writings reflect a personal relationship with God in a commitment to Christian principles which is good number three is disappointing while three and eight are encouraging and for Newton see the great books number 34 deart great books number 31 who said I think therefore I am is the ultimate statement of rationalism and human centered belief it was a move away from the Christian humanism of the Renaissance and the Reformation period and was just all about man humanism

period here us some information on Emanuel k um he's uh great books number 42 Wikipedia lived from 1724 until 1804 he was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers born in Kingsburg KS uh comprehensive and systematic works and epistemology metaphysics ethics and Aesthetics have made him one of the most influential and controversial figures in modern Western philosophy he has been called the father of modern ethics the father father of modern Aesthetics and for bringing together rationalism and empiricism the father of modern philosophy in his doctrine of transcendental idealism Kant argued that space

and time are mere forms of intuition that structure all experience and that the objects of experience are mere appearences the nature of things as they are in themselves is unknowable to us nonetheless in an attempt to counter the philosophical doctrine of skepticism he wrote the critique of pure reason which is his best known work K drew a parallel to the cernic revolution in his proposal to think of the objects of experience as conforming to our spatial and temporal forms of intuition and the categories of our understanding so that we have our priority cognition of those

objects these claims have proved especially influential in the social sciences particularly sociology and anthrop apology which regard human activities as pre-oriented by cultural norms Kant believe that reason is the source of morality and that Aesthetics arises from a faculty of disinterested judgment K's religious views were deeply connected to his moral theory their exact nature remains in dispute he hoped that Perpetual peace could be secured through an international Federation of Republican states and international cooperation and I might say that while that's been tried through the League of Nations between World War I and World War II

and through the United Nations after World War to we can see how that has failed returning to Wikipedia his Cosmopolitan reputation is called into question by his promulgation of scientific racism for much of his career although he altered his views on the subject in the last decade of his life Olsen overlaps some of what I have already shared but with further helpful insights to the minds of more traditional Protestant theologians and church leaders of course the DS were guilty of shallow accommodation of Christianity of Christianity to Enlightenment modes of thought the enlight may be summed

up in a statement of three characteristic ideas an emphasis on the power of reason to discover the truth about Humanity in the world skepticism toward the venerable institutions and traditions of the past and emergence of a scientific way of thinking that offered intellectuals a viable alternative approach to knowledge from that which had dominated medieval thought all Olson continues the major intellectual catalysts of the Enlightenment were philosopher deart and scientific mathematician Isaac Newton separately they laid the foundation for a new way of thinking and a new view of the natural world that emphasized doubt over faith

and uniformity over Divine interventions both considered themselves Christians but their methods and ideas were antithetical in many ways to traditional customs of thinking and viewing nature as a result of the enlightenments no longer was it as easy or acceptable for educated intellectual people to say with the majority of Christian thinkers Through the Ages I believe in order that I may understand namely Augustine no longer was the principle of Faith seeking understanding taken for granted now these are being replaced for many people with I will believe only what I can understand and Faith follows understanding disillusioned

by sectarian Strife turned off by religious intolerance and controversy and energized by a new vision of culture science and philosophy sparked by the enlightenment the Das attempted to reconstruct Christian thought now let's look more directly at the Enlightenment and the church first Catholicism and the enlightenment as I have mentioned before the Catholic hierarchy had difficulty dealing with the teachings of the Enlightenment however like Jonathan Edwards about whom I will talk in a little bit blae Pascal was a unique and intriguing Catholic who was also an Enlightenment scientist here is some of what Colin BL Brown

says starting on page 192 blae Pascal who lived from 623 to 62 would have liked to have lived had him lived longer for a reason you'll hear about soon was a junior contemporary of dekart and a slightly senior contemporary of of Spinosa before he was 20 he had invented a calculating machine to assist his father in his post as commissioner of taxes in Upper Normandy that is in France he thus pioneered the modern calculator so you could talk about uh taxes instruments instead of later Texas Instruments I guess you have to have grown up in

the United States in the 80s to get that joke but Pascal also made major contributions to Geometry probability number Theory and the philosophy of mathematics he was brilliant his physical experiments demonstrated the existence of the vacuum and successfully challenged the idea that nature always abhors a vacuum Pascal's scientific work helped to banish the occult from science and to establish the mechanistic view of the world at the same time Pascal's growing commitment to the Christian faith led him to develop an alternative approach to paronian skepticism which artificial intelligence defines as a philosophical approach that advocates for

suspension of judgment on all beliefs and claims okay back to Colin Brown the origin uh of paronian skepticism it was named for the ancient Greek uh actually this is still the AI definition it's named after the ancient Greek philosopher pyro of Ellis who lived around 360 to 270 BC the core principle is that it emphasizes the idea that certainty is unattainable leading to a state of tranquility and the method is the practitioners engage in a practice of questioning and doubting all assertions to avoid dogmatism and to philosophical rationalism and now back to Brown on page

193 in his younger days Pascal had led a worldly life but in 1646 at the the age of 23 he came into contact with jansenism a Catholic movement with a strong augustinian emphasis on humankind's need of divine grace jansenism was bitterly opposed by the Jesuits and was condemned by the sorbon in 1649 and by Pope inocent I 10th in 1653 in 1654 Pascal had a conversion experience which he described on a piece of parchment that was sewn into his clothing as a Perpetual reminder it contained the following words fire god of Abraham God of Isaac

God of Jacob not of philosophers and Scholars certainty certainty heartfelt joy peace God of Jesus Christ God of Jesus Christ my God and your God thy God shall be my God the world forgotten and everything except God he can only be found by the ways taught in the gospels let me not be cut off from him for ever and this is life eternal that they may Know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent Jesus Christ Jesus Christ and that's the end of what was so inside his garer Pascal was increasingly

drawn into the Port Royale Circle in Paris which was the center of French jansenism his sister had earlier become a nun there Pascal's provincial letters were a brilliant defense of jansenism and an attack on current Jesuit theories about Grace and moral Theology and 1656 Pascal began collecting material for what he intended to be an apology for the Christian religion putting down his thoughts on scraps of paper his premature death at the age of 39 prevented the work from becoming anything more than a series of disconnected thoughts nevertheless these thoughts are poses as they are termed

in French remain one of the great Classics of Christian meditation on an apologetic that Christians excuse me meditate on an apologetics now I come to my favorite part of this lecture Colin Brown writes about how the brilliant Jonathan Edwards developed his calvinist faith in the context of the Enlightenment he notes Edward's dabbling in science greater involvement in philosophy but especially Theology and excuse me going back you can also find some of Pascal's writings in the great books as well I neglected before this lecture to write down the number but you can look up any great

book on the inside of the cover and it will give you the number of that uh book so beginning with page 272 in Colin Brown Edwards was born in East Windsor Connecticut as a boy he wrote precocious essays on the habits of spiders the rainbow and colors showing familiarities with Newton's Optics and a demonstration of the immaterial ity of the soul in 1716 he entered Yale where his tutor Samuel Johnson introduced him to Lock's essay concerning human understanding and that's the great books number 35 in later life he recalled how at the age of 14

he had more satisfaction and pleasure in studying it than the most greedy Miser in gathering up handfuls of silver and gold from some new discovered treasure after graduation in 1720 he spent two further years at Yale studying theology in preparation for the ministry during this time he underwent a profound religious experience later in his personal narrative in 1739 volume 16 Yale press he told how he re received a new awareness of God's absolute sovereignty and omnipresence and of his own complete dependence on God the experience and consequent Outlook indelibly affected edwards's thought after a brief

Outlook after a brief Pastor in New York Edwards returned to Yale as a senior tutor in 1727 he became assistant minister to his grandfather the renowned Solomon Stoddard in Northampton Massachusetts on the latter's death in 1729 Edwards took over for some 20 years Edwards enjoyed a remarkable Ministry playing a vigorous part in the New England Great Awakening while continuing engaged in theological writing he jotted down numerous Reflections which were intended which were intended as a first draft of a rational account of the main doctrines of the Christian religion attempted this Monumental account and work was

never completed Edwards attacked arminianism in a famous sermon preached in Boston on God glorified in man's dependence 1731 1 his cre preaching against arminianism was instrumental in the Revival he gave an account of it in his Narrative of surprising conversions in 1736 the Great Awakening of the 1740s produced cases of hysterical enthusiasm Edwards examined religious experience and a trus concerning religious affections in 1746 he discussed valid and invalid religious affections God raised him up as an unassailable great mind to be an apologist for the Great Awakening throughout his ministry Edwards was embroiled in controversy as

the 1740s Drew to a close opposition mounted criticism of the Revival combined with Parish Strife over edwards's salary and strict disciplinary attitudes including on baptism led to his removal though at a later time one of the leaders who did so asked Edwards forgiveness in 1751 Edwards accepted a call to Stockbridge a town which was then virtually on the frontier of civilization in Western Massachusetts here Edwards ministered to a small group of Indians and whites he spoke to the Indians on Sunday mornings and used outlines in speaking to the whites on Sunday afternoons earlier his wife

Sarah would lovingly put a string through his little outline his sermons that he would turn he would hold up to his eyes because of his farsightedness and the day the Great Awakening started in his church the Holy Spirit came down on his people as he was looking at his sermon but he spoke to the Indians on Sunday mornings and and use outlines to speak to the whites on Sunday afternoons he now had time and Leisure to write his major philosophical Tris on freedom of the will Yale Edition volume one and it sequels the nature of

true virtue the AL Edition number eight and the end for which God created the world volume also Volume 8 he began the history of the work of redemption Yale Edition volume 9 but as labors were interrupted by a call to become president of the College of New Jersey now Princeton University he had hardly resumed his duties when he died following a smallpox injection breaking into the Period of Enlightenment comes Ed Edward's history of the work of redemption as with Calvin's institutes I have read it in its entirety and because of its importance in the history

of Christian and indeed World thought I now quote it at length from this website and you can see the website in the lecture notes it was published posthumously in 17 73 it's now volume 9 of the Yale works it was Edward's attempt to retell the entire story of human history from the Divine perspective of God's Sovereign plan it is a meta narrative that intends to cast the unfolding drama of Redemptive history is a coherent divinely driven Unity expressly controlled and compelled by God's glorious determination as such it is unabashedly a theocentric retelling of human history

and a direct Counterattack to the prevailing contemporary Enlightenment view that mankind is driving its own history propelled by the twin oras of human virtue and Innovation originally a sermon series preached in 1739 Edwards had great plans for his history before his untimely death Edwards had planned to convert this sermon series existing now only as a compilation of a Ser of sermon manuscripts into a comprehensive theology that would be classified in today's rubric as biblical theology his design was so great to complete this work that it almost prevented him from accepting the position of President of

Princeton College complimentary to other printed theologies available in his day that approached Doctrine more systematically such as Calvin's institutes and Watson's body of divinity Edwards was hoping to create an authorative chronologic iCal work here he would progress from creation through the fall developing the themes of the major C covenants culminating in the coming of the Messiah and then driving victoriously towards the consummation of all things in the Eternal age Jonathan Edwards Jr his son described the blueprint of the Puritan Divine would be Magnum Opus as follows a body of divinity in a new method and

in the form of a history in which he was first to show how the most remarkable events in all ages from the fall to the present times recorded in sacred and profane history were adapted to promote the work of redemption and then to trace by the light of scripture prophecy how the same work should yet be further carried on even to the end of the world as the as a sermon series Edwards preached some 30 messages on the text for the moth will eat them up like a garment and the worm will eat them like

wool but my righteousness will be forever and my salvation to all generations his thesis which he carries on through out the entire 1739 preaching series was the work of Redemption is a work that God Carries On from the fall of Man to the end of the world typically he describes this work as a grand design always emphasizing that God is the driving and determining cause of all things interestingly Edwards does not begin in Earnest with creation but might have if he had completed his full project but rather starts the second sermon in Earnest with the

fall after a brief overview of his goals in the first message Edwards then divides Biblical history into three primary epics the fall of Man to the Incarnation of Christ from Christ's Incarnation until his resurrection that is his humiliation and from then to the end of the world period 1 Edward subdivides primarily along the lines of the historical covenants Noah Abraham Moses and David he includes the Captivity in Babylon types of Christ or ways that Christ is for figured in the Old Testament are replete throughout he labors to show the revealing and fulfilling of biblical prophecy

especially as it pertains to Christ as the Messiah towards the close of the first Triad Edward includes a section on Improvement or application as all Puritan sermons would it is notable however that the application sections are lighter than most edwardsian sermons in Period two Edwards primarily focuses on themes related to the atonement or the purchase his term of redemption fulfilled in Jesus's Cru crucifixion and death Edwards believed the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to be Central to the biblical drama of History the Old Testament had anticipated his coming the New Testament sought to

apply his life death and Resurrection to Believers souls and lives without any doubt Edwards viewed the Christ event as one of my professors winsomely used to call it as the pin that holds all of history together as a cohesive Unity no event no matter how small fails to point in some way to the centrality of Christ and his cross in the third Triad period 3 Edwards not only fills out the other major portions of the New Testament drama that is the Ascension of Christ and the work of the Apostles but he also takes the work

Beyond the apostolic age and into post-biblical history incorporating other major events into one sweeping narrative thus he appends the destruction of the empire of Rome the rise and Corruption of the Roman Catholic church and exalts the work of the Protestant reformers he views these events is the Continuing Story of redemption not at all separated from the events recount counted authoritatively in scripture as a postm millennialist Edwards anticipated great success in the Gospel Mission of the church as a revivalist Edwards continues to show his Fascination even absorption with those times in which true religion is greatly

fanned into flame of course Edwards believed himself to be living in such a time and from our contemporary position of retrospective we must agree whatever are millennial views throughout there are strong motifs of spiritual warfare however this Warfare is not the trite egocentric prayers for daily victory over Pity sins that many Believers engage in today but rather the large scale Cosmic conflict between God's gloriously advancing army versus Satan's feval but indefatigable resistance the inevitable smashing of the devil's terrorist troops more like Guerilla Warfare than a fairly contested Battlefield conflict is a foregone conclusion but must

be played out in real time as Edward concludes the sermon series remember the final work was never completed as he envisioned it to be he closed with improvements on the authority of scripture and warnings against apostasy and false religion read Roman Catholicism and muhammadislam the latter already being re perceived as an existential threat to Christendom he ends with a glorious section on the joys of Heaven for those who repent and believe in the beautiful work of redemption purchased through Christ's blood we are left to wonder what might have happened had Edwards finished his work and

lived longer into his presidency at Princeton students of reformed theology in particular and evangelicalism in general might well have become The Heirs to one of the most significant Works yet written in the young American colonies however it was not to be if Edwards would be consistent with the premise of his own extent drafts in IC form he would be compelled to admit that it was not part of God's grand design for the book to ever be completed as he hoped end quote returning to Colin Brown's discussion of Edwards and the enlightenment we read quote Edward's

training was influenced by Puritan platinised I will say see the neoplatonism in the book of Hebrews that I believe was written by Apollos so the Puritan platinised that the spiritual world is the Ultimate Reality but in the case of Edwards this Outlook was modified by the empiricism of Lock and the science of Newton as one modern writer has put it quote from luck he took the notion that all our ideas originate in sensation from Newton the conception of space as the Divine sensorium the Newtonian PL platonistic idealistic side of edwards's thought appears in his note

of being I believe that's Yale Edition volume number six where he argued that being possesses the attributes of Eternity omnipresence omniscience and infinity in other words being is God himself God is in fact identical with space the universe proceeds from God as light proceeds from the Sun the universe is a revelation of the Divine to create Minds although some of Edward's ideas suggest the influence of Bishop Berkeley it would seem that Edward's ideas suggest the influence of Bishop Berkeley that Edwards read them without having read The Bishop's work Works Edward's Notebook on the images or

Shadows of divine things Yale Edition 11 presents nature as a symbol of God it is a panorama of Shadows and images of the Divine mind and will the contemplation of the traces of God in nature is a Sublime and delightful activity in the interests of time I would ask you to read the rest of Colin Brown on Edwards it's wonderful material and uh I'm going to go over to a few words from Dr core at the end of this lecture again for reasons of space and the focus of this course I looked at Jonathan Edwards

and the Enlightenment from the Colin Brown uh book I had the privilege of working on my PhD course when Dr Brown was the head of the program at Fuller he knows his subjects very well and wrote very clearly also Jonathan Edwards was a leading example of being a Christian who could also use Enlightenment principles he was like Johan Sebastian Bach who took in previous music principles and moved forward with new music and see what brown writes about it being like someone that is Jonathan Edwards being ahead of his time in science and edwards's case Theology

and the Bible may God use you in a similar way my heroes amen