I was just reading a little bit of a book by Jonathan Edwards called "A Preservative Against Socinianism" published in 1698. On page 16 Edwards says something that elicits my question:

For tho Socinus acknowledges that God at first made man after his own Image: yet he tells us that that Image, as we shewed before, consisted only in the Dominion which God gave him over the whole Creation: and that all other notions of similitude, whereby he may be thought to resemble God, are but Commenta Humana, the inventions of men; not any part of the Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. In short, that Adam was born a frail, mortal Creature, having only the bare faculties of understanding and will, but without the accomplishments of either; being neither endued with wisdom nor holiness: a pure rasa Tabula, capable indeed of any impressions, but having no characters either of wisdom or Righteousness, engraven upon his mind, by the finger of God, when he first dropped out of his hands.

He goes on to say in the next paragraph that the orthodox belief is that Adam was created with:

a perfect knowledge of God, himself, his duty, and all parts of creation: [but] Socinus will tell you that all this is a great mistake.

Was Jonathan Edwards unique in holding this position or was it a common one in his day? Does this particular point of theology have a name? Is this belief still held amongst any Evangelical groups today the same as Edwards did then, or has the general trend in Evangelicalism been in a more Socinian direction on this point?

(By the way, if someone wants to verify the quote, the book is on Google Books. I don't know how to link directly to the page number, so you'll have to scroll down to page 16.)

I was just reading a little bit of a book by British academic Jonathan Edwards (note: not the famous one) called "A Preservative Against Socinianism" published in 1698. On page 16 Edwards says something that elicits my question:

For tho Socinus acknowledges that God at first made man after his own Image: yet he tells us that that Image, as we shewed before, consisted only in the Dominion which God gave him over the whole Creation: and that all other notions of similitude, whereby he may be thought to resemble God, are but Commenta Humana, the inventions of men; not any part of the Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. In short, that Adam was born a frail, mortal Creature, having only the bare faculties of understanding and will, but without the accomplishments of either; being neither endued with wisdom nor holiness: a pure rasa Tabula, capable indeed of any impressions, but having no characters either of wisdom or Righteousness, engraven upon his mind, by the finger of God, when he first dropped out of his hands.

He goes on to say in the next paragraph that the orthodox belief is that Adam was created with:

a perfect knowledge of God, himself, his duty, and all parts of creation: [but] Socinus will tell you that all this is a great mistake.

Was Jonathan Edwards unique in holding this position or was it a common one in his day? Does this particular point of theology have a name? Is this belief still held amongst any Evangelical groups today the same as Edwards did then, or has the general trend in Evangelicalism been in a more Socinian direction on this point?

(By the way, if someone wants to verify the quote, the book is on Google Books. I don't know how to link directly to the page number, so you'll have to scroll down to page 16.)

I was just reading a little bit of a book by Jonathan Edwards called "A Preservative Against Socinianism" published in 1698. On page 16 Edwards says something that elicits my question:

For tho Socinus acknowledges that God at first made man after his own Image: yet he tells us that that Image, as we shewed before, consisted only in the Dominion which God gave him over the whole Creation: and that all other notions of similitude, whereby he may be thought to resemble God, are but Commenta Humana, the inventions of men; not any part of the Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. In short, that Adam was born a frail, mortal Creature, having only the bare faculties of understanding and will, but without the accomplishments of either; being neither endued with wisdom nor holiness: a pure rasa Tabula, capable indeed of any impressions, but having no characters either of wisdom or Righteousness, engraven upon his mind, by the finger of God, when he first dropped out of his hands.

He goes on to say in the next paragraph that the orthodox belief is that Adam was created with

a perfect knowledge of God, himself, his duty, and all parts of creation: [but] Socinus will tell you that all this is a great mistake.

So, my question is do Evangelicals still believe the same as Edwards did then, or has Evangelicalism actually moved in a more Socinian direction on this point? From an Evangelical perspective, does the "Image of God" mean Adam had perfect knowledge of the things Edwards lists, or is it something much smaller?

(By the way, if someone wants to verify the quote, the book is on google books here. I don't know how to link directly to the page number, so you'll have to scroll down to page 16.)

I was just reading a little bit of a book by Jonathan Edwards called "A Preservative Against Socinianism" published in 1698. On page 16 Edwards says something that elicits my question:

For tho Socinus acknowledges that God at first made man after his own Image: yet he tells us that that Image, as we shewed before, consisted only in the Dominion which God gave him over the whole Creation: and that all other notions of similitude, whereby he may be thought to resemble God, are but Commenta Humana, the inventions of men; not any part of the Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. In short, that Adam was born a frail, mortal Creature, having only the bare faculties of understanding and will, but without the accomplishments of either; being neither endued with wisdom nor holiness: a pure rasa Tabula, capable indeed of any impressions, but having no characters either of wisdom or Righteousness, engraven upon his mind, by the finger of God, when he first dropped out of his hands.

He goes on to say in the next paragraph that the orthodox belief is that Adam was created with:

a perfect knowledge of God, himself, his duty, and all parts of creation: [but] Socinus will tell you that all this is a great mistake.

Was Jonathan Edwards unique in holding this position or was it a common one in his day? Does this particular point of theology have a name? Is this belief still held amongst any Evangelical groups today the same as Edwards did then, or has the general trend in Evangelicalism been in a more Socinian direction on this point?

(By the way, if someone wants to verify the quote, the book is on Google Books. I don't know how to link directly to the page number, so you'll have to scroll down to page 16.)