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Free Study Guides for Understanding Jonathan Edwards’ “Freedom of the Will”

Princeton’s professor of ethics Paul Ramsey—who in 1957 edited the critical edition of Jonathan Edwards’ Freedom of the Will as the first volume in Yale’s Works of Jonathan Edwards—wrote in his introduction that “This book alone is sufficient to establish its author as the greatest philosopher-theologian yet to grace the American scene.”

John Piper says  it is “probably the greatest defense and explanation of the Augustinian-Reformed view of the will which exists today. . . . It is simply without peer. We would live in a different world of evangelicalism if Christians would read it.”

But few have read it today.

The original title—in a day when long titles also functioned as a summary of the book—was: A Careful and Strict Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of the Will, which Is Supposed to Be Essential to Moral Agency, Virtue and Vice, Reward and Punishment, Praise and Blame.

Edwards worked out his thinking on the subject over many years, but began actually drafting the book in August of 1752 while in Stockbridge. It was ready for publication in 1753 and eventually published in 1754.

I’m please to make available a few resources here that may be helpful for those who want some help in accessing this influential argument.First is a study guide from Doug Sweeney, an accomplished Edwards scholar who is professor of church history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Sweeney’s handouts provide an overview of some historical-contextual benchmarks, some questions to ask of the text, and a brief summary of the argument.

Second is an essay entitled “The Will: Fettered but Free,” by Sam Storms, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Edwards’ doctrine of original sin. This chapter originally appeared in A God-entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, edited John Piper and Justin Taylor (Crossway, 2004), 201-220, posted with the permission of Crossway.

Storms lays out an overview of his essay:

First, I will briefly unpack Edwards’ devastating critique of libertarianism, one that I am convinced has yet to be successfully refuted.

Second, I will reconstruct Edwards’ concept of the will. Although some have found it to be intolerably complex, it is actually quite simple and forthright once one grasps the meaning of several important terms he employs.

Third, and finally, I want to address the most problematic element in Edwards’ theology of the will, the fall of Adam and the entrance of evil into the human race.

Storms expresses some disagreement with Edwards’ approach on how the fall came about. On this, see also Peter Beck, “The Fall of Man and the Failure of Jonathan Edwards.”

Finally, and perhaps most helpfully for those who want help in tracing the full argument, Daniel P. Fuller has given me permission to post his section-by-section digest of Freedom of the Will. He is using an older edition of the work, but it should still be relatively easy to follow and is a wonderful example of how to summarize a book and come to terms with an author and his argument.

May the Lord bless each of you who decide to study this profound and influential work!

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