Beauty and Sensibility in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards

Download or read book Beauty and Sensibility in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards written by Roland Delattre and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-04-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illuminating analysis of Jonathan Edwards' philosophical-theological-ethical program focuses on his concept of beauty as our central clue to the nature of reality and the life of God. Delattre shows that beauty not only provides Edwards with a model for the manner of divine governance but operates throughout his thought as both the goal and means of redemption. Essential to his understanding of the operation of beauty as the law of moral order is Edwards' aesthetic/affectional model of the self, which corresponds to his aesthetic articulation of the system of being and good. Thus the distinguishing mark of Edwards' theology--his elevation to centrality of both the primary beauty of being's cordial consent to being and the secondary beauty of harmony and proportion--is shown to be the key to his interpretation of the dynamics of the moral and spiritual life.