FULLNESS RECEIVED AND RETURNED: TRINITY AND PARTICIPATION IN JONATHAN EDWARDS

Abstract

Fullness Received and Returned: Trinity and Participation in Jonathan Edwards by Tan Seng-Kong can be classified as part of the recent trend in Edwardsian scholarship to accentuate the theme of “participation”. Tan corroborates this, writing, “Human participation in the divine life is, therefore, a central theme in Edwards’s soteriology and a defining motif in his overall theological thinking” (1). Unlike other recent, yet partial, accounts, Tan’s project intends to give a, “systematic and broad account of Edwards’s doctrine of participation in the divine life” (2). The methodology assumed is systematic in character and not historical, while the workhorse of this methodology is Edwards’ exitus-reditus theme, as seen within/between the Trinity and creation.