This witty and illuminating volume introduces the life and writings of the great American theologian and preacher Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). The most widely studied figure in American religious history and an iconic figure of the American colonial period, Edwards is well known and highly regarded as a stalwart defender of Calvinist theology and his Puritan heritage. As James P. Byrd deftly reveals, however, Edwards was also a brilliant thinker and passionate pastor who wrestled continuously with the most important issue of his time: the relationship between faith and reason. Written by experts but designed for the novice, the Armchair series provides accurate, concise, and witty overviews of some of the most profound moments and theologians in Christian history. These books are essential supplements for first-time encounters with primary texts, lucid refreshers for scholars and clergy, and enjoyable reads for the theologically curious. The eldritch imagery of Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” framed America’s greatest theologian as the quintessential hellfire-and-brimstone preacher. Byrd starts softening that image by pointing out that the striking metaphors that make “Sinners” a literary classic attest Edwards’ keen interest in science and participation in his era’s reconciliation of science and religion. Edwards’ advocacy and critique of religious revival as exemplified in the Great Awakening of the 1740s; his vindication of the Calvinist conception of free will, which to non-Calvinists can seem like no free will at all; his clarification of original sin and the danger of disbelieving in it; his meticulous explanations of the reason for creation and why true virtue is the love of God—Byrd is brightly enlightening on all these major Edwardsian themes. Moreover, he persuades us of Edwards’ reasoned conviction of the goodness of God and the beneficence of the love of God. His sprightly précis would be exhilarating even without Ron Hill’s wry cartoons throughout. Luckily, it isn’t without them. --Ray Olson James P. Byrd is Professor of American Religious History, Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Research, and Chair of the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.