Religious Affections

Jonathan Edwards wrote this treatise in the heat of the Great Awakening, when his Northampton congregation and the surrounding Massachusetts hillsides erupted in religious fervor, strangers weeping, sinners crying out, converts shouting with joy. The conservative clergy were troubled. Were these outpourings of emotion the work of the Holy Spirit, or spiritual theatrics? Edwards' answer was neither simple nor uncomfortable. In twelve signs, Edwards distinguishes genuine religious affections from their counterfeits. The key: true grace produces fruits. It elevates the soul toward divine things, transforms the will toward holiness, and manifests in love, humility, and the daily practice of Christian virtue. Affections unaccompanied by changed lives are nothing but emotional noise. This is not a defense of enthusiasm. It is a rigorous, philosophically sophisticated argument that genuine religion cannot help but move the heart, and that a faith which never touches the emotions has likely never touched the soul at all. Three centuries later, it remains essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered whether their spiritual life should feel like something.