Why did God create the world?

Few questions are more fundamental to human existence, and few people have thought as deeply and biblically about this question as Jonathan Edwards. In this seven-lesson series, Professor Joe Rigney walks step by step through Jonathan Edwards’s treatise The End for Which God Created the World, exploring the biblical and rational roots beneath Edwards’s argument along the way, and showing the impact that his God-centered theological vision ought to have on Christian worship.

This course is provided courtesy of The Worship Initiative. Used with Permission.

Joe Rigney serves as Assistant Professor of Theology and Literature at Bethlehem College & Seminary. He oversees the History of Ideas program, an undergraduate major that focuses on the Great Books and the Greatest Book. He is the author of two books: Live Like a Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis’s Chronicles (Eyes & Pen, 2013) and The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts (Crossway, 2015). Joe is also a pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis.

After completing a B.A. in Speech Communication from Texas A&M University, Joe and his wife Jenny moved to Minneapolis in 2005 to participate in Bethlehem’s vocational eldership training program. He has an M.A. in Biblical and Pastoral Studies from Bethlehem College & Seminary, and M.St. in Classical Christian Studies from New Saint Andrews College, and is currently seeking a Ph.D. from Union School of Theology. He joined the Bethlehem College & Seminary staff in 2007 as a cohort leader in the INSIGHT program, formerly taught as the college’s freshman year. When he’s not teaching or reading, Joe loves to play baseball with his two sons and spend time with his lovely wife Jenny.

Resources prepared by David Clifford and Amy Guibal from Bethlehem College & Seminary.