Death and resurrection—the two concepts are deeply intertwined in the Christian psyche. They form the final structure to the storyline of Jesus Christ in the four gospels; they saturate the apostolic teaching in the New Testament; and early Christian creeds witness to the fact that although human beings die, the Church from its earliest days has affirmed “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.” Jonathan Edwards affirmed these convictions and populated his “Miscellanies” notebooks with numerous reflections on the nature of death and resurrection. Like many topics contained in the “Miscellanies,” his entries on death and resurrection do not form mature statements on either theme. Rather, we find in them Edwards investigating specific features related to each doctrine, like an intellectual investigator illuminating the various theological alleyways associated with each topic. This essay will follow Edwards down these theological alleyways by examining the “Miscellanies” entries which address death and resurrection in significant detail.

from the introduction to Robert Caldwell’s chapter in Miscellanies Companion, Volume 2 (forthcoming).