Friday, November 18, 2011

Jonathan Edwards: Model Father?

As I was processing a gift collection, I ran across a rather interesting book entitled Marriage to a Difficult Man: The "Uncommon Union" of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards written by Elisabeth D. Dodds. It's a title that was already in our collection. The book is described as a "blend of family guidance book, sociological study, psychologically- and devotionally-oriented American historical biography" on its dust jacket. The dust jacket goes on to reveal that his children really loved him. She offers Jonathan and his wife as examples of parents to modern readers as parents who had found the balance between permissiveness and discipline in their child rearing. (The book was written in 1971.) It really sounds like a fascinating read about the man who penned one of the most famous sermons of all time, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Although the book lacks footnotes, there is a bibliography with references sorted by chapter in the back. The content appears to be mostly historical with "modern" application to its readers. This book is going on my "TBR" (to-be-read) list. It probably offers a fascinating glimpse of what life was like living in a clergy family in colonial New England. Since I had a few ancestors that fit that category, I'm hoping to find some background that might be useful in my ancestors' story.

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