Education

Ridley Melbourne and Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University forge strategic partnership

Melbourne, Australia—Ridley Melbourne announced establishment of a Jonathan Edwards Centre for the Asia-Pacific region, affiliated with the Jonathan Edwards Centre at Yale University. This strategic partnership exemplifies the vision of Ridley Melbourne to be an internationally renowned theological and training school.

The Jonathan Edwards Center–Australia will serve as a research, education and publications hub for study of Edwards and evangelical history and develop links with the international academic community.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), pastor, revivalist, Christian philosopher, missionary, and president of Princeton University, is widely regarded as North America’s greatest theologian. He is the subject of intense scholarly interest because of his significance as an historical figure and the profound legacy he left on America’s religious, political and intellectual landscapes.

“I welcome Ridley's plans to pay sustained critical attention to Edwards’s thought,” said Dr. Bruce Langtry, senior fellow at the School of Philosophy, University of Melbourne “Jonathan Edwards was an important American theologian and, more specifically, America's greatest contributor to philosophical theology.”

Dr. Kenneth Minkema, executive director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, observed, “The establishment of the Jonathan Edwards Center-Australia at Ridley Melbourne is a significant expansion of Edwards scholarship and will serve widely both academia and the church.”

In recent years, a rapidly growing interest in Edwards as theologian has brought the man and his writings onto the world stage, pressing beyond the popular and more parochial image of Edwards primarily as American preacher and American historic figure. Increasingly, his writings are being consulted by religious leaders, pastors, and churches around the world, spurred by a growing recognition of the fervency and universality of the Edwards message and the acumen with which he appraised religious experience.

This interest in Edwards globally has been fuelled in part by the work of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, whose sole mission is to support inquiry into the life, writings, and legacy of Jonathan Edwards by providing resources that encourage critical appraisal of the historical importance and contemporary relevance of America’s premier theologian. The primary means to achieve this is with the Works of Jonathan Edwards Online, a digital learning environment for research, education and publication, that presents all of Edwards’s writings, along with helpful editorial materials that allow the reader to examine Edwards's thought in incredibly powerful, useful ways. The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online 2.0 is accessible through the Center’s web site at: www.edwards.yale.edu.

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