Avihu Zachai analyzes Jonathan Edwards' chaotic way of historical thought in the context of the Enlightenment. As a theologian and philosopher, Edwards has long been a prominent figure in American intellectual history. However, despite Edwards' intense attachment to the nature of time and the meaning of history, there has been no serious attempt to explore his philosophy in history. Zakai presents his first such exploration, and Edwards' historical thought is a reaction, in part, to different types of Enlightenment historical accounts and their growing disregard for faith considerations. Zackay analyzes the ideological origins of Edwards' insistence that the process of history is based only on God's compensatory activity as it is reflected in a series of renaissance throughout history, the reading of this doctrine as a response to the threat to the Christian Theological theology of history by the early emergence of the secular concept of history And the modern legitimacy of historical time.

In response to the re-enlightenment in revisiting secular and historical history and its growing emphasis on the human agency, Edwards sought to re-establish God's priority within time. In exchange for removing Christianity from history and removing divine authority from the historical process, he sought to re-inspire God as the author and lord of history, thus re-enchanting the historical world. With Edwards' historical thinking in its broader context, this book will be welcomed by those who study early modern history, American history, or religious culture and experience in America..

I want that book.