The natural sciences and philosophy of nature

Jonathan Edwards’s philosophy of nature demands our attention precisely because he embraced some features of the new scientific modes of thought and reasoning which developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, commonly called the ‘scientific revolution.' Yet he rejected at the same time its mechanical, experimental philosophy, the predominant scientific doctrine of his time, according to which all natural phenomena can be explained and understood by the mere mechanics of matter and motion. When placed within the proper ideological, theological, and scientific context, Edwards’s writings on natural philosophy shed light not only on his specific reaction to contemporary scientific culture but also on the broader issue of the relationship between science and religion in the early modern period, thus constituting an important chapter in the history of ideas.