Jonathan Edwards - Christian Biographies for Young Readers (Carr)

Jonathan Edwards lived at a time when many people were seriously questioning long-accepted ideas about the world, life, and God, and his answers to these questions have left a mark on the way we think today. While he is often remembered as the preacher of a scary sermon about a spider dangling over a fire, he remains significant as one of the greatest thinkers America has produced.

Simonetta Carr traces the events of Edwards’s life from a young student interested in science to husband and father, pastor, leader of the Great Awakening, missionary, writer, and college president.

Colorful illustrations, interesting facts, and a compelling story combine to introduce young readers to this important theologian and life in colonial America.

Table of Contents: 

1. An Inquisitive Child 

2. Student and Pastor 

3. The Great Awakening 

4. Sorrow and Rejection 

5. Missionary to the Natives 

6. The Last Years 

Time Line

Did You Know?

A Letter from Edwards to His Daughter 

Series Description

This series introduces children to important people in the Christian tradition. Parents and schoolteachers alike will welcome the excellent educational value it provides for students, while the quality of the publication and the artwork make each volume a keepsake for generations to come. Furthermore, the books in the series go beyond the simple story of someone’s life by teaching young readers the historical and theological relevance of each character. 

Author

Simonetta Carr was born in Italy and has lived and worked in different cultures. A former elementary school teacher, she has home-schooled her eight children for many years. She has written for newspapers and magazines around the world and has translated the works of several Christian authors into Italian. Presently, she lives in San Diego with her husband, Thomas, and family. She is a member and Sunday school teacher at Christ united Reformed Church.

Illustrator

Matt Abraxas has traveled from California to France, studying different approaches to art. He enjoys creating and teaching art and currently exhibits his work at the SmithKlein Gallery in Boulder, Colorado. Matt lives with his wife, Rebecca, and two sons, Zorba and Rainer, in Lafayette, Colorado.

Endorsements  

“Jonathan Edwards is one of the most important post-Reformation Protestant thinkers and writers— at once an intellectual of the highest caliber, a pastor and spiritual theologian, one of the leaders of the evangelical Great Awakening of the eighteenth century, and a devoted family man. The genius of Simonetta Carr’s book is that she manages to capture all these facets of Edwards and compresses them into the scope of a simple, accessible introduction. Young and old readers alike will learn much from her work. It is a delight to read!” — Oliver Crisp, professor of systematic theology, Fuller Theological Seminary

“Jonathan Edwards believed that the age of childhood was the most important for the formation of piety, character, and habits and that encouraging and instilling the love of reading not just the Bible but good literature was essential to bringing up children in the way they should go. In his own day, he read books about eminent saints that influenced him his entire life. This beautifully produced book continues that tradition; the illustrations are wonderful, and the prose, expertly suited to children and young people, is at once informative and, in the true Edwardsean sense, stirs the affections.” — Kenneth Minkema, executive director of the Jonathan Edwards Center and assistant adjunct professor of American religious history, Yale Divinity School, and editor of the Works of Jonathan Edwards

“Jonathan Edwards had an all-encompassing vision of God and His work in this world. It is the kind of vision we all need today. This book brings Jonathan Edwards and his vision to life for a whole new generation. I wish I had this book when I was a young reader.” — Stephen J. Nichols, president of Reformation Bible College and C.A.O. of Ligonier Ministries