While there were earlier biographies and memoirs of Jonathan Edwards, the great eighteenth-century religious figure, than the one written by A. V. G. Allen, they were apologetic versions that had been produced by Edwards's disciples. Allen's stands out as the first to approach the life of Edwards comprehensively and critically, attempting to discern the positive and negative elements in his thought. Nearly forgotten today, Allen's book deserves a place among the landmark studies on Edwards.