by George M. Marsden (Yale University Press)
The ND professor of history's critically acclaimed biography
of controversial Protestant theologian Edwards (1703-1758) casts
light on his personal life and his theology. The author reveals
Edwards' struggles to reconcile his Puritan heritage with the
secular world and his personal difficulties with his faith. Told
in an easily read narrative style, the book views Edwards in the
context of his time in colonial America, when the fiery preacher
ignited the Great Awakening of the 18th century.
The biography received the following awards:
-- Bancroft Prize for the best books in American history, awarded
by Columbia University, 2004
-- Merle Curti Award for the best book in American intellectual
history, awarded by the Organization of American Historians, 2004
-- Annibel Jenkins Prize for the best book length biography of
a late seventeenth or early eighteenth-century subject, awarded
by the American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2002-04
* * *
(June 2004)
