Jonathan Edwards Books: A Guide to All 10 and Which to Read First
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was a New England pastor, a leader in the Great Awakening and one of the deepest thinkers the church has known. He wrote sermons, eyewitness accounts of revival, long treatises on theology and private notebooks full of essays. Some of his books are easy to read. Others are hard going even for scholars. For his life story, see who was Jonathan Edwards.
TheWay Library has ten books by Edwards, all free to read online. Here is what each one covers, how they fit together, and where to begin.
Where to start
If you've never read Edwards, start with Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Sermons were his main work, and these seven show him at his best. Next read Charity and Its Fruits, his practical lectures on love. Then go on to his revival writings and Religious Affections. Save the treatises on the will and on original sin for later.
A simple order:
- Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
- Charity and Its Fruits
- Edwards on Revivals
- A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections
- A History of the Work of Redemption
- Freedom of the Will
- The essays and unpublished writings
Sermons and lectures
Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
Seven sermons chosen to show Edwards the preacher, edited with an introduction and notes by H. Norman Gardiner. They include God Glorified in Man's Dependence, his first published sermon; A Divine and Supernatural Light, on the spiritual sense of God's beauty; Ruth's Resolution; The Many Mansions; Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God; a sermon mourning a civic leader; and the Farewell Sermon he preached after Northampton dismissed him in 1750. Gardiner's introduction is a good short account of Edwards's life.
The redeemed have all their good in God. We not only have it of him, and through him, but it consists in him; he is all our good.
Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, God Glorified in Man's Dependence
This is the place to begin. Read Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards.
Charity and Its Fruits
Lectures on 1 Corinthians 13, preached at Northampton and first published a century after his death. Edwards teaches that all saving virtue is summed up in love, then follows Paul verse by verse through love's patience, kindness, humility and freedom from envy, selfishness and anger. It ends with the lecture "Heaven, a World of Charity or Love." It is his warmest and most practical book, and good for a group.
Heaven is a world of charity or love.
Charity and Its Fruits, Lecture XVI
A History of the Work of Redemption
A connected series of sermons tracing all of history as the unfolding of God's work of redemption. Edwards divides it into three periods: from the fall to Christ's coming, Christ's life and death, and from His resurrection to the end of the world. Along the way he shows how God preserved His church and kept His promise through every age. It reads like a Bible survey with a single theme. Read A History of the Work of Redemption.
Revival and true religion
Edwards on Revivals
Two of Edwards's revival writings in one volume. A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God is his account of the 1734–35 awakening at Northampton, with the stories of a dying young woman, Abigail Hutchinson, and a small child, Phebe Bartlet. Thoughts on the Revival in New England is his 1742 defense of the Great Awakening, with plain warnings about its errors, such as spiritual pride and censoriousness.
This work that has lately been carried on in the land, is the work of God, and not the work of man.
Edwards on Revivals, Thoughts on the Revival, Part III
A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections
Edwards's great work on how to tell true religion from false. He argues that true religion lies largely in holy affections, lists twelve signs that prove nothing either way, then gives twelve signs of real grace, ending with a holy life as the chief sign of all. Our edition opens with a short life of Edwards, his Resolutions, extracts from his diary and his own account of his conversion, which are worth reading on their own.
As there is no true religion where there is nothing else than affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection.
A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, Part I
The treatises
Freedom of the Will
His most famous work of theology, written at Stockbridge against the view that true freedom requires a will that decides apart from any prior cause. Edwards defines the will as that by which the mind chooses, argues that it always follows the greatest apparent good, and draws his key distinction between natural inability and moral inability. It is demanding but rewarding for patient readers. Read Freedom of the Will.
The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended
A defense of original sin, written chiefly against the English writer John Taylor. Edwards argues from the universal sinfulness and death of mankind, from Scripture, especially Romans 5, and from the nature of redemption, then answers objections. This text was restored from a badly damaged scan, so many words are misread. If you can, read it alongside a modern printing. Read Original Sin Defended.
Essays and unpublished writings
These three books were printed from Edwards's manuscripts long after his death. They are for readers who already know him.
Selections from the Unpublished Writings of Jonathan Edwards
The heart of this volume is his Treatise on Grace, which argues that saving grace differs from common grace in kind, not just degree, and that it is the Holy Spirit Himself dwelling in the soul. It also prints his notes on many Bible passages, brief directions for judging people's religious experiences, and sermon outlines. Read Selections from the Unpublished Writings.
An Unpublished Essay of Edwards on the Trinity
Edwards's essay on the Trinity, first printed in 1903 with a long introduction by George P. Fisher on Edwards's life and thought. Edwards argues that the Son is God's perfect idea of Himself and the Holy Spirit is the love and delight that flow between the Father and the Son. Read the Essay on the Trinity.
Observations Concerning the Scripture Economy of the Trinity
A short treatise on the order among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the work of redemption, and on the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son. The editor printed it to answer rumors that Edwards had strayed from orthodox teaching on the Trinity. Read Observations on the Trinity.
A note on these editions
Selected Sermons comes from a proofread transcription. The other nine were restored from scans of old printings and are still being proofread, so you'll find an odd word here and there. Original Sin Defended has the most damage.
Why read Edwards today
Edwards asks hard questions and doesn't settle for easy answers. But he never treats God as a puzzle. Again and again he comes back to the beauty of God's holiness and the joy of knowing Him. Begin with his sermons, keep his best quotes close by, and find all ten books together on the Jonathan Edwards author page.