'The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned for the present; they increase more and more and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose ÉThe bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.'
Jonathan Edwards, 'Sinners in the hands of an angry God'
As 21st-century Christians, what is our immediate reaction to Edwards's famous sermon? Do we see Edwards's sermon as an anachronistic relic which has little relevance in our postmodern context? What is it that we wince at?
