Publisher's Synopsis
The editor's introduction includes an interpretive essay that relates Edwards's growing body of entries in the "Miscellanies" to the main events in his life and progressing career. It also explores how even before the beginning of his tutorship at Yale in 1724 Edwards had developed both within and outside of the "Miscellanies" certain fundamental positions that constitute the truly distinctive elements in his theology. The introduction ends with an explanation of the methodology used to establish for the first time the chronology of the early miscellanies. The conclusions of this research are summarized in a comprehensive chronological chart that locates by date not only entry nos. a-500, but also the sermons, essays and other manuscripts Edwards composed prior to 1731.