A Couple of Posts on Edwards and McDermott

Jonathan Edwards on Revival

by Scot McKnight at BeliefNet/JesusCreed

This article discusses McDermott's Understanding Jonathan Edwards, highlighting the theme of revival. 

What are Religious Affections?

by Paul Whiting at A School Without Walls

This article discusses McDermott's Seeing God as an easy introduction to Edwards's work, Religious Affections, with a handy chart comparing affections to emotions. I would add also that Edwards's understanding of affections is similar to the Biblical/ Augustinian understanding of the heart, which also finds its way into the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #2563:

The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." 

The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. 

The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant.

Although the CCC uses the term, heart, throughout its text, it doesn't define it expansively until the above passage in Section 4: "Christian Prayer."

____
photo is of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, wearing his habit emblazoned with the cross of Christ rooted in the heart.