George M. Marsden

George M. Marsden has built a distinguished career studying religion, education, and intellectual life in America. He taught at Calvin College, Duke University, and the University of Notre Dame, where he became professor emeritus of history. Jonathan Edwards presents the eighteenth-century theologian within the social, political, and religious world of colonial America, balancing Edwards's ideas with the circumstances that shaped his ministry and reputation. Yale University Press published the biography, which received the Bancroft Prize and recognition from major history and biography awards. Marsden's broader work includes studies of American fundamentalism, evangelicalism, and higher education, as well as a later book returning to Edwards's thought. Jonathan Edwards is therefore both a substantial life of one influential figure and an example of Marsden's larger effort to explain religious conviction as a serious force in American history.