Evangelical Revival · 1765

A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Edwards asks the deepest possible question about creation: what moved God to make a world at all, and what does he ultimately seek in everything he does within it. Working first from reason and then through a long survey of Scripture, Edwards argues that God's last end is the communication and manifestation of his own glory, which is also the highest good of the creature. Written near the close of his life and published posthumously in 1765, the dissertation became the philosophical foundation for later God-centered theology and remains his most ambitious account of divine purpose.

3.5 hrs total · 13 chapters