Jonathan Edwards is a dead author who continues to speak from one generation to another.
Daniel Fuller, professor emeritus of Hermeneutics at Fuller Theological Seminary, introduced John Piper to the writings of Jonathan Edwards in the late 1960's. John Piper pressed home the God-centeredness of God to his students at Bethel College in the 1970's. I was one of those students.
When I designed the curriculum for Bethlehem's Apprenticeship Program in the 1980's (which became The Bethlehem Institute [TBI] in the 1990's and more recently Bethlehem College and Seminary [BCS]), the utter self-sufficiency and beauty of our triune God was and continues to be central to our discipleship efforts.
Back in the early 1990's, Walter Schultz, a strawberry farmer, carpenter and general contractor, was drawn to study philosophy. He asked Pastor John's advice, and he encouraged him to read Edwards' Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World. This philosophically tight and God-besotted dissertation has shaped Walter's thinking so much that, after earning his PhD in philosophy at the University of Minnesota, he has been devoting his life ever since to seeing and helping others see the centrality of God in Christ in every field of knowledge.
One of Walter's disciples, also a graduate of TBI, is Nick Nowalk, who is now serving as Ministry Fellow at Harvard University with Christian Union. Nick was so impacted by Walter's urging to immerse himself in Edwards that Nick became our Edwards teacher in TBI, both at the graduate and lay leadership levels.
When Nick left, one of his disciples, Joe Rigney, seamlessly stepped into being our Edwards instructor at BCS.
On October 23, Nick and another TBI graduate, Jesse Peterson, will be holding a free conference on Jonathan Edwards in Greenwich Village, New York City, entitled "A Beautiful Mind: The Ongoing Relevance of Jonathan Edwards" (PDF flyer).
So there you have it. A dead author still speaking from generation to generation through living voices. If you're in the NYC area, we encourage you to attend. And please pray for this conference, and for the voices of Edwards to multiply.