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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Biography of a Great and Godly Man!
Review: I heartily concur with some of the other reviewers - Murray's book is the definitive biography of a godly man who was an important part of the Great Awakening.The book is comprehensive, covering several areas of Edwards' life: 1. Early childhood and Christian influences.
2. His salvation experience.
3. His happy home as evidenced by the large number of children, loving relationship with his life, and hospitality to others.
4. Associations with David Brainherd, George Whitfield, and other religious leaders of his day.
5. His important contributions to the Great Awakening and the resultant opposition he experienced.
6. His expulsion from the Northampton Church based on his stance on the Lord's Supper.
7. Missionary endeavors to the Indians.
8. Later years and service at Princeton University. Murray successfully portrays Edwards as a man who although reserved in some respects, was actually a very warm and caring man towards others. As for the reviewer from France, I only have to say - God alone determines where He will move His Spirit! That is not our choice to make!
Rating:
Summary: A Soul Stirring Biography
Review: Jonathan Edwards is maybe the most exciting historical Christian to study (except for Luther. Part of this explanation is the fact that history shows us a much differnt picture than the modern stereotypes show us. Murray is to be commended for his standard setting work on Edwards. Murray is very warm and doctrine centered. As periodical "Christian History" said of Murray's work, "this is the biography Edwards himself would have most appreciated." (Spring 2003). Final Analysis This book is long, complex, and well researched. It is not bed time reading, but rather, Sabbath reading as it will stir one's thoughts to the Lord. Murray pulls no punches as he shows his view of Edwards: This man saw more of the glory of heaven and the terror of hell than any modern Christian ever will. Murray's aim is that after reading, Christians will then take up Edward's works and discover the glory for themselves.
Rating:
Summary: A Soul Stirring Biography
Review: Jonathan Edwards is maybe the most exciting historical Christian to study (except for Luther. Part of this explanation is the fact that history shows us a much differnt picture than the modern stereotypes show us. Murray is to be commended for his standard setting work on Edwards. Murray is very warm and doctrine centered. As periodical "Christian History" said of Murray's work, "this is the biography Edwards himself would have most appreciated." (Spring 2003). Final Analysis This book is long, complex, and well researched. It is not bed time reading, but rather, Sabbath reading as it will stir one's thoughts to the Lord. Murray pulls no punches as he shows his view of Edwards: This man saw more of the glory of heaven and the terror of hell than any modern Christian ever will. Murray's aim is that after reading, Christians will then take up Edward's works and discover the glory for themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: This biography gives an accurate account of the basic events of Edwards' life, but the potential buyer should know that he is writing from a distinctly Christian perspective, which, in this case, results in a rather uncritcal interpretation of some of the more ambiguous events under consideration. For example, saying that the Great Awakening was really a direct, divine intervention in the lives of men, while it may indeed be true, leaves too many legitimate historical question unanswered. Why did it occur in N England, Wales Northern England and Germany in particular? To what extent was it linked to the diversification of N. England society and the corresponding erosion of the clergy's political power? Moreover, while Murray's critique of previous biographers' religious skeptism is well taken, he dismisses their work too quickly. For example, in his attempt to discredit Perry Miller he actually mis-quotes him (p xxi), putting words into Miller's mouth that aren't anywhere to be found in Miller's book. Murray also places within the same quotation marks two excepts that are 132 pages apart in the original book. Murray's assertion that Miller's interpretation "has long since been abandoned as untenable" simply isn't the case. Admittedly those in the school of Miller, avowed atheists, necessarily interpret Edwards in a way that Edwards himself would not have appreciated, but Murray's biography could have benefited from some of there hard-nosed, prying investigations into N. England family rivalries and political power-plays. I think most Christians would also appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: The Standard
Review: This book shatters misconceptions that portray Edwards as a cold, stiff theologian who knew God as ONLY a wrathful judge. Instead, Murray shows Edwrads to have been a top-notch theologian who also cared deeply for others.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Unfortunately in academic circles today it has become taboo to express biases; to be sure, they all come through sooner or later. But, in academia, the writer must separate his own proclivities from his account of "the facts".
The simple fact of the matter is that the same God that Murray worships is the same God Edwards worshipped and now worships in heaven and so we are left with an account of Edwards by a man who is also thoroughly acquainted with the spiritual realities that Edwards experienced (perhaps not to the same degree).
Biographers like Perry Miller are atheists and so they start with naturalistic presuppositions in their accounts. This, for the Christian reader, is an untenable and unfortunate way to look at the life of one of God's choicest saints.
The book is remarkably well researched. Murray is concerned to chronicle the details of Edwards' life with painstaking thoroughness and his account of Edwards' dismissal from his Northampton congregation leaves the reader shocked. Not surprisingly, Calvin was dismissed from Geneva in similar circumstances - such has been the unfortunate tendency of Christians over the centuries.
Murray's writing style is wonderful. He's perspicuous and leaves the reader with the impression that many of today's Christian writers would do well to pack away their pens and take up different activities.
Lastly, this book is a devotional gem. I've written a three-page essay on hos Edwards' life, ministry and thought have affected my own and this has been a pleasure rather than a pain.
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