Love, Glory, and Deification

Abstract Jonathan Edwards’s dissertation, The End of Creation , explored God’s goals in creating the world and acting thereafter. Using scriptural texts and a rich doctrine of divine beauty, Edwards argued that God is theocentric and motivated by his own glory. This raises the question of how this is compatible with divine love for humanity. To address this question, Edwards draws on his understanding of Trinity and theological aesthetics. Through this, Edwards develops a stronger doctrine of deification than elsewhere in his corpus, allowing him to unify God’s self-love with love for creature, but weakening the God-creature distinction.