He is best known for his award-winning biography of the New England clergyman Jonathan Edwards, a prominent theologian of Colonial America.
[2] He attended Haverford College, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Yale University, completing a Doctor of Philosophy degree[2] in American history under Sydney E. Ahlstrom.
He taught at Calvin College (1965–1986), Duke Divinity School (1986–1992), and as Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame (1992–2008).
[4] As of 2017 Marsden is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.
[5] His former doctoral students include Diana Butler Bass, Matthew Grow, Thomas S. Kidd, Steven Nolt, and Rick Ostrander.