Jonathan Edwards and the Image of God in relation to Reformed Orthodoxy and the Flacian Controversy

Abstract

One little-explored facet of the theology of Jonathan Edwards is his view of the image of God. Drawing on unpublished sermon manuscript resources, this paper seeks to locate the position of Edwards’ view within post-Reformation Reformed theology, determining that Edwards held to a strictly intellectual, spiritual, moral, and relational view of the image to the mutual exclusion of the body in a manner discontinuous with that of prior Reformed theologians. Finally, the paper considers the provocative nature of Edwards’ use of ‘image of Satan’ language in his preaching ministry, comparing it to the Flacian Controversy and positing that Edwards only utilized such language by way of economical analogy, not ontological consistency