Spiritual Perception in Jonathan Edwards

McClymond, Michael J.

doi:10.1086/489969

Cited by 9 publications

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“…This new spiritual sense is not devoid of definite, substantive thought and evaluation; it is not a noncognitive feeling (McClymond 1997, 208). As Edwards says, “there is the nature of instruction in it” (Edwards 1959, 272).…”

Section: Moral Agency Interrupted?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its purpose is not causative, however. Admiration of nature's beauty alone can lead to only a constrained knowledge of the good, complementing the exercise of natural moral principles of self‐love and the like (Ramsey 1989, 573, n. 8; McClymond 1997, 215; and Wilson 2003, 205). However, for those who are the subject of the immediate communication of the divine light, admiration of nature's beauty takes on new significance.…”

Section: True Virtue In Contemporary Context: Vision and Narrativementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this essay, I want to reconsider Edwards's conception of true virtue and call attention to an aspect of his moral thought that has been given insufficient emphasis: the motif of vision or perception. While a number of studies have noted the importance of this motif for Edwards (Spohn 1981; McClymond 1997; and Delattre 1968, 1999), paying more systematic attention to the motif in the interpretation of his conception of true virtue can prove advantageous.…”

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confidence: 99%

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THE ROLE OF PERCEPTION IN JONATHAN EDWARDS'S MORAL THOUGHT: The Nature of True Virtue Reconsidered

Choi¹

2010

Journal of Religious Ethics

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ABSRACT This essay provides an interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's moral thought that calls attention to the motif of perception in his conception of true virtue. The aim is to illumine the extent to which Edwards's virtue ethics can be included in and contribute to prevailing approaches to virtue in contemporary theological ethics. To advance this proposal, this essay attends to the question of moral agency that Edwards's reflections on charity, the new spiritual sense, and religious affections raise. This procedure offers an acute sense of the significance of perception for Edwards's virtue ethics, which in turn allows for a constructive Edwardsean entry into current theological discussions on the narrative character of virtue.

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Section: Moral Agency Interrupted?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: True Virtue In Contemporary Context: Vision and Narrativementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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THE ROLE OF PERCEPTION IN JONATHAN EDWARDS'S MORAL THOUGHT: The Nature of True Virtue Reconsidered

Choi¹

2010

Journal of Religious Ethics

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Spiritual Knowledge as Embodied Appraisals: A Reading of Jonathan Edwards from an Emotion Theory Point of View

Sörhuus

2016

Issues in Science and Theology: Do Emotions Shape the World?

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The Patristic Roots of John Smith’s True Way or Method of Attaining to Divine Knowledge

Michaud¹

2011

Perceiving the Divine Through the Human Body

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The literature on the Cambridge Platonists abounds with references to Neoplatonism and the Alexandrian Fathers on general themes of philosophical and theological methodology. The specific theme of the spiritual senses of the soul has received scant attention however, to the detriment of our understanding of their place in this important tradition of Christian speculation. Thus, while much attention has been paid to the clear influence of Plotinus and the Florentine Academy, far less has been given to important theological figures that also form a vital part of the tradition the Cambridge Platonists find irresistible. Similarly, scholarship on the spiritual senses has tended to ignore early modern Protestant developments in this tradition focusing instead on patristic, medieval, and later modern figures. In response to these oversights, the present chapter provides a close reading and analysis of the reception and modification of Origen of Alexandria's (185-252) doctrine of the spiritual senses in the-Discourse on the True Way or Method of Attaining to Divine Knowledge‖ by the Cambridge Platonist, John Smith (1618-1652). Although Smith accepted much of the doctrine as he found it in Origen his allegiance to modern notions of methodology, derived especially from Descartes, as well as his Protestantism, made taking the doctrine on authority or antiquity alone unacceptable. Smith therefore offered his own case for the spiritual senses, at once intentionally mimicking the Alexandrian's interpretive synthesis of Platonism and Scripture (-Origen as model‖) and echoing Origen's own words (-Origen as source‖). Whereas Origen made spiritual sensibility intelligible by means of Middle Platonic thought, Smith's Neoplatonism provided the conceptual tools needed to make sense of biblical passages without suggesting a merely metaphorical meaning for sensory language concerning the awareness of spiritual realities. In this way, both tradition and innovation guide Smith's reformulation of the doctrine of the spiritual senses. In addition to demonstrating Smith's debt to patristic thought, this chapter also discusses his influence on such leading figures in modern theology as John Wesley (1703-1791) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). The chapter thus presents an important moment in the development of Christian speculation about the spiritual senses that begins to bridge scholarship on the Patristic and Enlightenment periods.

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Spiritual Perception in Jonathan Edwards

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

THE ROLE OF PERCEPTION IN JONATHAN EDWARDS'S MORAL THOUGHT: The Nature of True Virtue Reconsidered

THE ROLE OF PERCEPTION IN JONATHAN EDWARDS'S MORAL THOUGHT: The Nature of True Virtue Reconsidered

Spiritual Knowledge as Embodied Appraisals: A Reading of Jonathan Edwards from an Emotion Theory Point of View

The Patristic Roots of John Smith’s True Way or Method of Attaining to Divine Knowledge

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