It has been thought that Edwards's polemical arguments were aimed against Arminianism - which denied the Calvinist idea of predestination. The author argues that Edwards's real target was a more influential one, namely deism - the belief in a creator God who does not intervene in His Creation.

This is a study of how American theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) battled deist arguments about revelation and God's fairness to non-Christians. Author Gerald McDermott argues that Edwards was preparing before his death a sophisticated theological response to Enlightenment religion that was unparalleled in the eighteenth century and surprisingly generous toward non-Christian traditions.

McDermott has done a thorough and painstaking job in piecing together Edwards's views on non-Christian religion ... a valuable resource for scholars of eighteenth-century theology