Call for Papers
Title: “The Integrated Edwards: Perspectives on the Contribution of Jonathan Edwards’s Thought for Current Issues in Philosophy, Theology, Ethics, and the Christian Ministry”
Overview: Jonathan Edwards is very commonly referred to as “America’s Theologian,” or “America’s Augustine.” His life and influence on the early American scene has been well documented. Similarly, nearly every facet of Edwards’s thought—philosophical, theological, ethical, psychological, and homiletical—has been thoroughly scrutinized. We are well aware of the important influences on his thought and life, just as we know well those various schools and figures whose thought Edwards profoundly influenced. It is not surprising, then, that Edwards has become one of the most studied figures in early American history—placed alongside important figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Ralph Waldo Emerson—with an ever-growing, interdisciplinary, and highly specialized secondary literature that numbers in the thousands, not hundreds.
An aspect of Edwardsean studies that has not been as regularly pursued, however, but which invites further work, is how Edwards’s thought contributes positively and constructively to current issues facing the academy and church in the twenty-first Century. Edwards’s thought is living and active: a storehouse from which significant treasure can be hulled for the sake of a modern audience’s blessing. This volume intends to show both how and why authors can integrate Edwards’s thought into the present context. In this volume, authors will retrieve Edwards’s thought for constructive work in four broad areas: philosophy, theology, ethics, and the Christian ministry. From the broadest, most ideological aspects of Edwards’s thought, down to its most practical and tangible, this volume hopes to highlight the copiously fruitful ways in which America’s premier philosopher-theologian still speaks to matters that mattered to him most from his perspective of a God-entranced vision of all things.
Submission Guidelines
Please send your abstracts (250 words) in addition to your brief biography (100 words) to the editors through email. Your abstract must include a tentative title of the chapter.
Email: rob@jesociety.org
Important Dates
Submission of Abstract: June 1, 2025
Notification of Acceptance: June 14, 2025
Submission Deadline for full chapters: October 31, 2025.
Publication by JESociety Press: Fall 2026
The chapters should be 5000–8000 words and follow Chicago Manual of Style and the citation formats for WJE at http://edwards.yale.edu/research/citation-guidelines. All citations and quotations of Edwards must be from the letterpress or online Yale edition. Chapters should not be previously submitted or published elsewhere.
About the Editors
Robert L. Boss, PhD is the author of Thunder God, Wonder God: Exploring the Emblematic Vision of Jonathan Edwards and creator of the Visual Edwards, a software project which brings to life the writings and thoughts of Jonathan Edwards through innovative visualizations – https://www.visualedwards.org. He is the editor of The Miscellanies Companion Series and is currently editing a commentary on the Bible based on Edwards’s 73 volume corpus at edwards.yale.edu.
Cameron Schweitzer, PhD is the author of Towards a Clearer Understanding of Jonathan Edwards’s Biblical Typology: A Case Study in the ‘Blank Bible’ (Volume 5 in Treatises on Jonathan Edwards). He serves as Gateway Seminary’s Director of the San Francisco Campus and as an Associate Professor of Historical Theology, where he teaches courses in church history, systematic theology, ethics, and apologetics.