Interpretations IV: Edwards and the Catholic and Orthodox Traditions

Scripture focus

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

John 17:21 KJV

At a glance

Summary of the chapter

Edwards was, by conviction and rhetoric, a committed Protestant polemicist who identified the papacy with Antichrist. Yet McClymond and McDermott trace a long line of readers — from Henry Churchill King's 1903 charge that Edwards was 'anti-Protestant' to Thomas Schafer's 1951 argument that justification by faith held an 'ambiguous and… precarious place' in his thought — who sensed something less than fully Reformational in his theology. The common thread: Edwards, like Augustine, placed love rather than faith at the very center of salvation.

The evidence is substantial. Edwards taught that faith possesses a 'natural fitness' to be the condition of justification, functioning as a first act of obedience that virtually contains all later obedience within it — a position resembling, without adopting, Catholic notions of 'congruent merit.' Scholars like Anri Morimoto and Stephen H. Daniel argue Edwards fused a 'Protestant concern' (grace as strictly gratuitous, never possessed by creatures) with a 'Catholic concern' (grace as truly transformative, producing real, abiding change in the believer) — qualifying sola fide while never abandoning sola gratia.

George Marsden's description of Edwards as 'the American Augustine' anchors a series of striking parallels: Freedom of the Will and Original Sin echo Augustine's anti-Pelagian writings, Personal Narrative recalls the Confessions, and the History of Redemption parallels City of God. The chapter also highlights Catholic theologians like William Spohn, who found deep affinities between Edwards's practice of spiritual discernment and Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises — both treating the affections as the primary channel of God's guidance.

Key points

• Despite his polemical anti-Catholic rhetoric, generations of readers — from Henry Churchill King (1903) to Thomas Schafer (1951) — have sensed that Edwards's soteriology is not straightforwardly Reformational.
• Edwards taught that faith has a "natural fitness" to serve as the condition of justification, a position that echoes, without fully adopting, the Catholic notion of "congruent merit."
• Anri Morimoto and Stephen H. Daniel argue Edwards combined a Protestant insistence that grace is purely gratuitous with a Catholic insistence that grace truly transforms — qualifying sola fide while retaining sola gratia.
• George Marsden's label "the American Augustine" is borne out by real parallels: Freedom of the Will and Original Sin mirror Augustine's anti-Pelagian works; Personal Narrative echoes the Confessions; History of Redemption parallels City of God.
• Catholic scholars William Spohn and Donald Gelpi found Edwards's spiritual discernment closely comparable to Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises, both treating religious affections as the medium of God's inspiration.

A line worth remembering

Edwards discovered what other directors of souls have found, that religious affections all too readily slip into religious affectations.

McClymond & McDermott The Theology of Jonathan Edwards, ch. 43

Related Scripture

• Ephesians 4:3-6
• 1 Corinthians 13:13
• Galatians 5:6
• Psalm 133:1

For reflection and discussion

1. Edwards qualified sola fide while insisting on sola gratia — does that distinction matter to you? Why or why not?
2. If love, rather than mere intellectual assent, sits at the center of genuine faith, how would that change the way you evaluate your own spiritual life?
3. Ignatius Loyola and Edwards, from very different traditions, both insisted that the affections are where God speaks most directly. Do you agree — and how do you currently test whether an affection is truly from God?