Edwards Studies Today

Abstract The most important year ever in the history of Edwards studies was surely 2003, which marked the tercentennial anniversary of Edwards’s birth. Over the course of that year, scores of gatherings took place to commemorate Edwards and his international legacies, several of which yielded major scholarly publications, and dozens of other scholars wrote on Edwards as well in several different languages. Amid the tercentennial commemorations of Edwards’s birth, it was common to hear that thousands of books and articles had been written on ‘America’s theologian,’ fixing him once and for all amid the pantheon of America’s founding fathers and spiritual heroes. But such statements were misleading. A great deal has been accomplished since 2003 to reassess Edwards’s life and variegated legacies, highlighting gaps in the study of this figure. Edwards’s statue is not set, nor his place within the temple. This chapter offers a survey of recent efforts at revision.