Table of Contents

Introduction
Singly, Particularly, and Closely: An Introduction

Chapter I The Traditioned Self: Edwards's Place in the History of Mentoring
1. The Value of Virtue in Premodern Practice
2. The Desire for Discipline in the Modern World
3. The Power of Models in Puritan Practice
4. The Early Experience of Jonathan Edwards

Chapter II The Affective Turn: Edwards as Culturally Modern Mentor
1. Authority: A Modern Challenge to Ministry Assumptions
2. Friendship: The Dynamic Context of Edwards's Mentoring
3. Conversation: Social Means to Sanctified Ends
4. Pedagogy: Edwards's Inductive Educational Approach
5. Correspondence: Edwards's Familiar Discourse
6. Leadership: Promotion of Heroic Spirituality in Sermons

Chapter III The Mimetic Way: Edwards's Mentoring as a Guide to Glory
1. The Image of God: The Possibility of Connection in Creation
2. The Power of Imitation: A Christological Strategy for Growth
3. The Beatific Vision: The Ends Shapes the Means
4. The Integrative Reflex: Strategy of Resistance and Renewal

Chapter IV The Revolutionary Lens: The Edwardsean Mentoring Legacy
1. Edwards's Mentoring Legacy Defined
2. Edwards's Mentoring Legacy Radicalized
3. Edwards's Mentoring Legacy Institutionalized
4. Edwards's Mentoring Legacy Defended

Coda
Face to Face Flourishing: Faith in the Age of Facebook

About the Author

Rhys S. Bezzant has served as an ordained priest in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, and presently teaches Church History at Ridley College, where he directs the Jonathan Edwards Center Australia. He is also a Canon at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne. He is the author of Jonathan Edwards and the Church (OUP 2013).

Reviews

"Edwards as Mentor is an important work that fills a lacuna in Edwards Studies. As a work of historical theology, it will be widely read and appreciated by scholars of Edwards and eighteenth-century evangelicalism." -- Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Theological Review
"As a recommendation, this book is not only for Edwards or Andrew Fuller scholars, but also for professors and pastors who need to revise what successful mentorship looks like." -- John S. Banks, The Journal of Andrew Fuller Studies
"This volume is profoundly interesting..." -- Kyle C. Strobel, Church History
"I was a little skeptical when I was given this book, but the author has demonstrated that the questions he poses provide new insights and new connections. He has also revealed that, even after so many years, research on Edwards still raises many unexpected possibilities... I give this book a rich welcome." -- Wim van Vlastuin, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Journal of Reformed Theology
"... this monograph is a scintillating study of a neglected area of Edwards's life, which, if taken to heart, would have enormous implications for theological education in the Age of Facebook... the text and notes are pure gold!" -- Michael A.G. Haykin, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, Church History and Religious Culture
"For a rich and historically informed study with suggestive application to the present moment, Bezzant's analysis of Edwards' mentoring model will repay careful reading." -- James M. Garretson, The Banner of Truth
"His tone, language, and historical approach would best serve Edwards scholars interested in a specific account of Edwards's place as a mentor during the Enlightenment period." -- Karin Spiecker Stetina, Talbot School of Theology, Themelios
"Jonathan Edwards tends to be romantically imagined as a lone figure, wrestling with ultimate questions in isolation, and not as an organization builder. While he did more than his share of intellectual and spiritual wrestling, he did not do it in solitude but trained youthful minds and hearts. As Rhys Bezzant shows us so innovatively in this new take on the colonial theologian and pastor, Edwards was conscious of his legacy, and mentored rising generations of
believers and leaders." -- Kenneth P. Minkema, Executive Editor and Director, Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University
"This innovative study explores a wide variety of intersecting topics, from friendship between men and the arts of conversation and letter writing to the history and theology of pastoral mentorship. Bezzant's reconstruction of Edwards's efforts to train and nurture the next generation of 'Sons of Thunder' is a fresh contribution to Edwards scholarship that will interest social historians and American theologians alike." -- Ava Chamberlain, Author of The
Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle: Marriage, Murder, and Madness in the Family of Jonathan Edwards.
"Rhys S. Bezzant has provided us with an original piece of research, combined with scholarly expertise, and wide ranging and significant application to the life of the church in the twenty-first century. This is an important book. It is well written. It is well researched. And it will help you follow Edwards's example of mentoring people for Christ's glory today. Read it!" -- Josh Moody, Senior Pastor of College Church, Wheaton, Illinois