ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses whether Edwards was able to deal with the problem of the primal sin of Adam and its effect upon humanity as a whole. It also deals with the related problem of the authorship of sin. The chapter outlines and discusses Edwards' doctrine of the imputation of sin. Edwards' theory of the imputation of Adam's sin depended on his views on the metaphysics of persistence through time, and in particular, the doctrine of temporal parts. Edwards' doctrine of temporal parts seems to be a facet of a larger theory of persistence-through-time, which in the contemporary literature is called perdurantism. It is certainly the case that Edwards' theology had a place for federalism in his doctrine of the covenants. But it is not the case that Edwards was simply reiterating a standard position on federalism.
