A SHORT LIFE OF JONATHAN EDWARDS

Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards (most famous for the sermon "Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God") is not intended as an abridgment of his lengthier JONATHAN EDWARDS: A LIFE. Instead, it's meant to provide insight into Edwards's life and influence to a wider audience. Marsden places particular emphasis on the profound cultural and social shifts that were occurring during Edwards's life and how those shifts influenced his development as a man, scholar, and clergyman. Grover Gardner narrates with a crisp, businesslike attitude, which only works part of the time. He moves along swiftly, the prose buoying him up with clever anecdotes of Edwards's life. But at times Gardner sounds like he's simply reading the text, rather than narrating, a choice that sometimes makes Marsden's insightful, sensitive biography sound like a brittle history textbook. A.H.A. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2009]