Jonathan Edwards -- By Grace Alone

It's a little bit strange to me that our overall reaction to Jonathan Edwards as a class is one of distrust (as it relates to the dramatic, firey language of his well-known sermon), perhaps because it is not so difficult for me to reconcile the Edwards of "Sinners" to the Edwards of his Personal Narrative as it seems to be for some others.

While Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is certainly a controversial piece of doctrinal analyses and may perhaps dwell too much on the fire-and-brimstone aspects of Christianity, Edwards makes and intellectually and spiritually sound case for the peril of mankind. The almost single-mindedness of the language belies Edwards' sincere repect for and reliance on the grace of God -- it is this grace and restraint alone that separate the sinner from the fires of hell, and in light of the anger and sovereignty of God as outlined by Edwards this grace is all the more profound.

God's grace is the foundation of Christianity. Without the understanding and beneficence of that grace our feeble attempts at holiness amount to nothing and result in eternal damnation. This idea is uncomfortable -- we like the idea that some things we do in life give us a leg up on the general goodness scale, and the concept that anything we do and do not do in life, whether for good or for evil, ultimately does not matter is terrifying. Due to this mindset Edwards' sermon seems to be mere condemnation, but at closer inspection it is rather a plea to those outside of god's grace to step within it, rather than relying on self for an empty salvation. he strives to portray the anger, power, and sovereignty of God in order to better understand the nature of and need for His grace.

Despite its overtly Calvinist tones of predestination "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is theologically sound. It's message is based in the very foundations of Christianity. I believe the difficulty that we have in appreciating that message comes from a latent self-interest, for one. As we discussed in class, America is at its heart a nation composed of consumers -- if we don't hear the message we want to hear at all times then we're prone to either giving up on that message entirely or simply finding a different translation of the same message that perhaps panders to our personal perceptions of how life and God should be.

We are quick to condemn Edwards based on the overt tones of cynicism when it comes to the human condition and his lack of sympathy in the deliverance of a message of hope, but we base that condemnation almost solely on a message that was written for a different audience during a different time, and often choose to disregard the truth in favor of a cushier, gentler faith.