Jonathan Edwards’ Scriptural Practices

Kenneth P. Minkema gives readers a view into Jonathan Edwards’ day-to-day practices of engaging with Scripture. He shows how Edwards kept various exegetical manuscripts and developed detailed systems for organizing and indexing his reflections on the Bible. These practices made it easier for him to draw from this material as he constructed theological treatises and developed and repreached sermons. Edwards also regularly conducted “canonical reviews” to systematically examine how Scripture treated different theological themes. This understanding of Edwards’ direct engagement with the Bible and application of his exegetical materials, as Minkema demonstrates, opens up many lines of inquiry into the further study of Edwards as exegete.