Jonathan Edwards, A Careful and Strict Enquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will (1754)
Jonathan Edwards — written at Stockbridge, a frontier mission town, after Northampton dismissed him
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
STAMINA — High. Four long parts, and he follows every objection to its end.
CONTEND — High. He argues from ordinary experience of choosing.
DEFEND — High. Philosophers have argued with it for two hundred and fifty years and still assign it.
POPULARITY — Low. It is hard reading and was never meant to be anything else.
Jonathan Edwards wrote Freedom of the Will in 1754. He argued that we always choose what seems best to us, so we are free to do as we please. The trouble is what we please, which is why a sinner needs a new heart.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 18 | Affirm | — | Status | — | — | 1 |
| 30 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 12 |
| 40 | To Do as He Pleases | Soteriology | Argument | 84 | 100% | 12 |
| 44 | The Greatest Apparent Good | Rationality | Argument | 88 | 100% | 10 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.
In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.
“The plain and obvious meaning of the words Freedom and Liberty, in common speech, is The power, opportunity, or advantage, that any one has, to do as he pleases.”
Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will (1754), Part I §5, public domain.public domain
In the gameEdwards defines freedom the way ordinary speech does: being able to do what you want. The harder question, he says, is where the wanting comes from.
“When I say, that the will is as the greatest apparent good, or, (as I have explained it,) that volition has always for its object the thing which appears most agreeable”
Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will (1754), Part I §2, public domain.public domain
In the gameEdwards argues that a person always chooses what seems best to them at that moment. So a heart that loves the wrong things will freely choose them, and needs changing itself.
Edwards answers from inside the revival’s own tradition. A person always chooses what looks best to them, so a heart that loves the wrong things will choose them freely. It is the heart that needs changing, and it cannot change itself!
Edwards answers from inside the revival’s own tradition. A person always chooses what looks best to them, so a heart that loves the wrong things will choose them freely. It is the heart that needs changing, and it cannot change itself!
The Vicar trusts conscience to guide a free will. Edwards answers that the will always follows what seems best to the heart, so knowing the good is not the same as wanting it. The heart itself needs changing.
The Vicar trusts conscience to guide a free will. Edwards answers that the will always follows what seems best to the heart, so knowing the good is not the same as wanting it. The heart itself needs changing.