Just finished this book. Here I was prejudiced by thinking I have trouble with the ten commandments and here is a man that has seventy resolutions. It was a deligt to find that this book is not just a list of his resolutions from 1 to 70. Though all seventy resolutions are listed in the back of the book. In this book Mr. Lawson combines diffrent resolutions with Jonathan Edwards diary entries. It has me thinking am I resolved to do all things to God's Glory.

I liked the statement that Edwards believed that greater trouble brings greater triumph.

The book is on Kindle and still sells for $.99. was not able to provide a link.

The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards is the second in Lawson’s “A Long Line of Godly Men Profile,” series. In this edition, Lawson follows what is clearly one of the most influential theologians of the Reformation (John Calvin) with Jonathan Edwards, who “is still widely regarded as the most distinguished minister ever to grace the American church” (1). And while students of history may recognize him as the hellfire and damnation prophet they read about in history books as they study “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Lawson presents another, broader portrait of Edwards.

Though Jonathan Edwards “was intellectually brilliant and theologically commanding, his true greatness lay in his indefatigable zeal for the glory of God” (4). Thus, in this volume Lawson leads the reader to a better understanding of the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, using Edwards’ own diaries and Miscellanies as helps along the way. These resolutions would show themselves to be Edwards’ “spiritual compass,” throughout his life, and the earnestness with which he sought to fulfill them is laid before the reader as a wonderful example to emulate.

The amazing aspect of these Resolutions is that they were written at a very young age. They were written, likely, during the end of his master’s degree studies at Yale, throughout his term as an interim pastor in New York City, and, “then during a brief stay at home prior to receiving his master’s degree in September 1723” (29). During Edwards’ transition between boy and man – during a time that many opt to exhaust all remaining desires for boyhood – Edwards laid the course for his pursuit of holiness for the entirety of his life. This in and of itself is fascinating.

Lawson then guides the reader to understanding the nature of these Resolutions, by helping display the relations between each various point and encouraging the reader to take upon themselves the practice of such a pursuit. The bulk of the book a sort of commentary on the Resolutions, and reveals aspects of Edwards that may be less than obvious to the student who merely reads his seminal sermon and moves on dismissively.

While those who read of Edwards Resolutions may find themselves unable to relate to a figure so fully enveloped in his devotion to God, Edwards diaries reveal the humanity of “America’s Theologian.” His diaries show his struggle with doubts of his salvation, his struggle to be peaceable and patient, and his struggle with the discipline that so characterized his life. Lawson masterfully weaves the diaries and Resolutions together to form a more developed picture of Edwards, rather than the flat, two-dimensional puritanical prophet.

This is a fantastic introduction to Jonathan Edwards and his Resolutions.

From Daniel Christensen