Feyz Kashani and Jonathan Edwards on the Place of Heart in Religious Knowledge

This essay seeks to summarize and compare the theological ideas of Jonathan Edwards, a western philosopher, with those of Feyz Kashani, an eastern philosopher. The reason for this study is the numerous conjunctions that are seen in their ideas. These include the harmony of heart and reason in respect to belief, the priority of the heart in the reflection of truth, the belief in centrality of the religion of heart, the necessity of divine grace in the flow of religious knowledge, the emphasis on the esoteric side of religion as opposed to the exoteric side, and the importance of a practical approach to religion. Significant differences also exist between their ideas. For instance, Edwards believes that human nature is sinful and corrupted while Feyz does not believe this is true. Furthermore, Feyz interprets the path of heart to be based on reason, while Edwards has a different point of view.