The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd

The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd is of much more than merely historical interest. The first internationally recognized biography ever to be published, it has had a profound impact on successive generations of Christians around the world. The Diary covers the period from April 1742 to October 1747, and although written as a private and personal record, was published in abridged form by the great New England pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards in 1749. Brainerd wrote the Journal, which covers the twelve months from June 1745 to June 1746, at the request of the Scottish Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, which was supporting his missionary work amongst the indigenous peoples of North America. Jonathan Edwards' own 'Reflections and Observations' on Brainerd's life, included in this volume, are, according to Iain H. Murray in his Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, 'among the most important descriptive pages on the Christian life which Edwards ever wrote.' Few books have done so much to promote prayer and missionary action as The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd.