The Folly of Edwards

Ok, so this post is not to claim that I have anything on Jonathan Edwards. In fact, I am far from the place where I can even begin to crtique Edwards' works, other than to say that he was highly influential, and one of the great communicators and evangelists of the American era. However, my beef comes from sitting in seminary class and hearing people exercise selective enthusiasm, contributing to the class when there is an obvious character of Christian interest being discussed (such as Edwards), and failing to contribute as much when a more obscure or obviously secular character is being discussed (such as Hegel, Kant, Locke, Hobbes, or Hume). I must say that all five of the characters that I just mentioned, though they were arguably the five most influencial philosophers of the past 400 years to the rest of the world, never ignited the twinkling eyes of those in the class near as much as one Jonathan Edwards upon the first mention of his name. What does this show of us Christians who hope to be teachers, if we cannot conjure up a similar genuine interest in influential figures of history, whether they enjoyed influence on the Christian world or the secular? People are people, and many millions have ordered their lives in the pattern of Hegel's beliefs. An entire country (*ahem*...take a guess which one) was founded as a playground for John Locke's political philosophy shortly after his death. Where is the cultural sensitivity?