Product Description

Jonathan Edwards’s treatise Religious Affections is widely considered the most important and accurate analysis of religious experience ever written.

Unfortunately, many well-intentioned readers sit down with Religious Affections, only to give up in frustration over Edwards’s lofty style and complex argumentation.

For this reason Sam Storms, one of evangelicalism’s experts on Edwards, has attempted to bridge the gap between how Edwards said what he did in the eighteenth century and how he might say it today. In Signs of the Spirit he articulates the substance of Edwards’s arguments in a more understandable way. The point is not to “dumb down” Jonathan Edwards but to make his work accessible to a wider audience.

This volume serves those both in and outside the academic realm as valuable preparation for, or as a companion guide to, a reading of Edwards’s Religious Affections.

“Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections remains one of the most discerning works of spiritual psychology published in the last several centuries. Dr. Samuel Storms’ unpacking of this significant work reveals once again for a new generation why the old Puritan so much deserves the most careful study today.”
Mark A. Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame

“Storms’ repackaging of this spiritual classic meets a serious need. His essay on Edwards’ personal spirituality, introducing the Personal Narrative, is almost worth the price of the book. Then his running commentary, interspersed with direct selections from the Narrative, are exceedingly helpful.”
Gerald R. McDermott, Professor of Religion, Roanoke College

“After nearly 300 years, these gems of Edwards’ continue to sparkle. Sam Storms has done a superb job interpreting them for twenty-first-century followers of Jesus. His vivid paraphrases are easy to read and always edifying.”
Douglas A. Sweeney, Associate Professor of Church History, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“These texts of Jonathan Edwards have nourished the church for nearly three centuries. In Sam Storms’ capable hands they’ll now speak clearly, plainly, and powerfully to the church today and for generations to come. If you’ve ever wanted to tackle Edwards but have shied away, you no longer have an excuse.”
Stephen J. Nichols, author of Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between

“In reading through this book, I feel like I am looking over Sam Storms’ shoulder, reading Edwards together with him. At times, he pauses to interpret Edwards for me; at other times, he places Edwards’ comments in their historical context. At all times, Sam’s love and respect for Edwards shines through clearly.”
Glenn Kreider, Professor of Theological Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32630 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author

Sam Storms is the founder of Enjoying God Ministries in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a former pastor and professor, including his time as visiting associate professor of theology at Wheaton College. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas. Storms is the author of several books, including Chosen for Life. He and his wife, Ann, have two daughters and two grandsons.

Customer Reviews

Honest scholarly attempt, does justice to Edwards
Sam Storms has provided us with a true gift: an honest scholarly attempt and interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' classic work "Religious Affections". For me, Religious Affections seemed too much to chew. Here, Storms, with great humility and care to maintain the original intent and depth of "Affections", provides an honest and useful interpretation of the original work in modern colloquial English. I am confident I still have much to gain by reading Edwards' work, just as I am confident that Storms' faithful work here has helped whet my appetite for it.

Finally - something by Edwards that I can understand!
"Signs of The Spirit - an interepretation of Jonathan Edwards' Religous Affections" by Sam Storms is basically a paraphrase of Jonathan Edwards' "Religous Affections." A very good one.

Counting this book - this will be the third time in a year that I've read this work by Edwards in one version or another. I'm not sure why I keep being drawn back to this particular work. This time around is primarily because I am becoming a big fan of Sam Storms and this is his latest book - but there is still something about it that is incredibly realistic when approaching the sincerity of one's faith. Like Edwards I struggle with my own sincerity and genuiness - constantly fighting against personal hypocracy and self-centeredness. When I measure my faith and personal walk with God by using this stuff - I see how far off from Him I am - and am greatly humbled by it. This is necessary for a true understanding of how sin needs to be dealt with - through Christ.

A lot of people aren't in favor of paraphrasing Edwards' works into modern day language - but I for one am all for it. Sam Storm does a great job of breaking this book down so that I could completely understand it. Before reading this book - I could only understand about 50% of the origonal.

Edwards lays out about 12 "signs" that a person can use to determine the sincerity of his own faith - and I think it is important to differentiate between one's OWN vice someone else's. I just don't think its a productive thing to do to go around trying to judge the sincerity of a brother's faith. I also don't think that is the intent of Edwards either. There are also some signs Edwards lists that MAY be fruits of a sincere faith but not necessarily. Its a very powerful book to read and without the hard edge of Shepard's "Parable of The Ten Virgins."

Storms also includes all of Edwards' "Personal Narrative" in the second section of the book. This part of Edwards' writings were left in their original with Storms commenting extensively on them. Its a great addition to the work because when you read Edwards' narrative you really get the sense that he applied the principals in the "Religous Affections" to his own life.

One thing missing from the book is the constant and continuous references to Thomas Shepard's "Parable of The Ten Virgins" which you will see in the original text outright. I'm not sure why Storms left this out - probably because it wasn't necessary to the point - but I think it really is a great idea to read that book to see how it incredibly influenced Edwards.

I really enjoyed this book - and hope that folks like Storms will step up to the plate and put some more writings of Edwards and others like him into a modern day readable format for average joe's like me.

Important Subject from an Interesting Man and Time.
This was an excellent book. As you know, it is an interpretation of Jonathan Edward's book "Religious Affections" - written around 1750. It is deals with what Christian Conversion is and how we can know that others and ourselves have been genuinely converted. The author Sam Storms is good to give the historical and theological context of this book. In so doing, he greatly increases the significance and meaning to what Jonathan Edward's wrote. Without this background, this book would have lost much of its meaning.

I note 5 background events: 1) Jonathan Edwards was in the middle of 2 or 3 large Revivals or Awakenings in America, there were differing views on their genuineness and what was really happening, 2) religion by the established church at the time was often cold and purely intellectual, 3) Jonathan Edward's had an argument with his parents concerning the nature of conversion that lasted 18 months, 4) there was a particular preacher that vehemently opposed Jonathan Edward's teachings on conversion, and 5) he left his church because he wanted to question the genuineness of his parishioners before they partook of communion.

Jonathan Edwards made 2 lists of Signs - one being a list of Indefinite Signs and the one a list of Definite Signs. The Indefinite list was a list of signs that could be true of both believers and non-believers. The Indefinite Signs were real; but since they could be true of non-believers as well, they could not be used to show that a person was truly converted. Below is my summary of the 2 lists. I made this list to help me summarize what Jonathan Edwards was saying and hopefully I can actually use this in a Sunday school class. My summary could certainly be improved upon.

1. 12 Indefinite Signs of Conversion
a. Intensity of Heart not a sign of Affections
b. Physical Activity not a sign of Affections
c. Much Talk not a sign of Affections
d. The way you came to have Affections not a sign of Affections
e. Scriptural Text comes to mind not a sign of Affections
f. Displays of Love not a sign of Affections
g. Much Activity not a sign of Affections
h. Order of experiences not a sign of Affections
i. Fervency of Worship not a sign of Affections
j. Vocal Praise of God not a sign of Affections
k. Profound Assurance not a sign of Affections
l. Attractiveness of Life Style not a sign of Affections

2. 12 Definite Signs of Conversion
a. Spirit-Led Affections
b. God-Focused Affections
c. God's-Holiness Affections
d. Spirit-Enlightened Affections
e. Spirit-Assured Affections
f. Godly-Brokenhearted Affections
g. Spirit-Transformed Affections
h. Christ-Like Affections
i. God-Sensitive Affections
j. God-Balanced Affections
k. God-Craving Affections
l. Godly-Fruit-Bearing Affections

The author has about 40 pages showing how Edward's described his own conversion. Jonathan Edwards was truly a unique individual. The book concludes with a chronological history of Edward's life. It is very interesting.

While I find this book to be very good, I am not sure that everyone who buys it will actually read it. The subject matter - while excellent is very focused and some people will not be able to finish it. While I was reading this book, I kept wondering, where can I ever use this material? I want to be able share this in a SS lesson. That is why I summarized the 2 lists (see above). I want to be able to summarize what I read so that I can share with others at church.