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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

'The centre of Edwards Theology'

The centre of Edwards' Theology:

“The happiness of humans, then, when rightly understood, is not an ultimate end of creation in any way apart from God and God's glory. 'The beams of glory come from God, and are something of God, and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole of God, and in God, and to God; and God is the beginning, middle and the end in this affair.'”
(Jonathan Edwards: A life, George Marsden, 463)

We were talking in theology last semester about Eschatology and it's effect on the other parts of theology and I asked Peter Adam what 'one thing' should organise the rest of our theology. Peter suggested a 'galactic' model where all the bits of theology float together like the solar system. (I think he was seeking to avoid under or over emphasising a particular part.) However I like Edwards' focus on the centrality of God. I want my theology to be theocentric, so if there is going to be one final trump card or one underlying organising principle, it'll be 'God'. For example: God's nature, God in action, God's words and God's presence or lack thereof.