Edwards’ doctrine of redemption as the central thread of his great project would not have been well suited to a systematic theology. To be grasped in all its completeness, it had to move out of the polemical confines of the schoolmen and theologians and present itself as a narrative story—indeed, the greatest story ever told. It is precisely the epic quality of History of Redemption, in its posthumously printed form in the nineteenth century, which gave it its “enormous influence” on “popular culture.”5