...The Best Way to Persuade: Fear “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, by Jonathan Edwards, is a speech that attempts to persuade individuals to join the Puritan movement. Edwards aims the speech towards everyone who is a part of the Puritan village and also those who are not. To sway the audience, Edwards uses a wrathful and intimidating tone. Jonathan Edwards believed that if you did not give your life to God then you would face God’s wrath. Edwards uses imagery and metaphors to persuade his audience to join the Puritan movement. Edwards, undoubtedly, uses imagery to persuade and affect his audience. Multiple times throughout his speech Edwards attempts to intimidate the audience using negative imagery. An example of this is, “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder;” (Edwards). Edwards uses negative imagery to intimidate his audience to give their lives to God. He is telling his audience that God can strike his wrath at any point in time, which almost forces people to give themselves to God. Edwards paints a vivid image using thunder and clouds to scare the people and portray God as a...
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...Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God 1. Describe three specific details of Edwards’ background. Jonathan Edwards grew up from an orthodox and devout religious family. From a young age, Edwards displayed his religious faith by preaching sermons to his friends. After earning a degree in the theology, Edwards began preaching with his grandfather in one of the largest and wealthiest Puritan congregations. 2. In what manner did Edwards deliver his sermon? Edwards delivered his sermon in a calm and composed manner. He was very collected and focused during his deliverance. 3. Who was his intended audience? Jonathan Edwards’ intended audience were Puritans that had lost faith in God due to the fact that many Puritans lost their faith because of scientific theories that contradicted the word of God. He directed the sermon to those who were “hanging over the pit of hell.” 4. What was his effect on his audience? Edwards’s listeners were said to have gasped and screamed in terror. Edwards message reached farther than the audience in the church, causing many Puritans to reconnect with their religion and refuel their...
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...thinking in Europe, which slowly and assuredly reaches the American Colonies the Puritan religion and political structure transforms as well. This innovative manner of thinking opens the door for the individual to get closer to God through their own intellect, while relying on reason and rationality. By the end of the eighteenth century this novel approach develops into the movement recognized as the “Enlightenment”. An interpretation from brittanica.com describes Jonathan Edwards as he “is stimulator of the religious revival known as the “Great Awakening,” and one of the forerunners of the age of Protestant missionary expansion in the 19th century”. His sermon titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” set forth to persuade the followers of God and sinners too, differing in age, gender and social status to renounce their wicked ways and surrender to the will of God. For that reason the underlying, but...
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...Awakening was an important time for colonists. Puritanism had a big impact on American colonist’s lives. Before the Great Awakening, religion was common in colonies. However, the Great Awakening changed religion for them. The colonist’s feelings towards God changed and many new religions were made. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon by Jonathan Edwards. This sermon contains many details that show how religion changed for the colonists. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards shows how colonists were impacted by the Great Awakening. Religion prior to the Great Awakening was much stricter. Different colonies had different rules but...
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...Jonathan Edwards’ Rhetorical Strategies In the sermon of Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” he talks about God having no mercy for sinners. With that he uses many rhetorical strategies to get his point across to his audience and readers. As preacher of the Great Awakening it is his job to offer salvation, but he is very compelling and makes it sound as if sinners cannot be saved from the fires of hell. He uses fierce words towards those who sin and do not follow the teachings of God. Edwards uses rhetorical strategies such as imagery, anaphora, similes, and metaphors to grab the audience’s attention making his sermon persuasive. For instance, Jonathan Edwards starts his speech with imagery. He uses imagery various...
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...Sermon Sinners in the Hands of an angry God by Jonathan Edwards he doesn’t agree with the idea of the puritans about pre-destination. When Jonathan Edwards gave this sermon in 1741 he emphasized the idea that God gives us a choice of free will, wether we decide what choice to make, heaven or hell. But this statement contradicts puritan beliefs in that time, Puritans believed that God already decides who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Signifying that Jonathan didn’t support puritan beliefs even tough he was considered one. He was part of the first great awakening that rejected puritan ideas, and spread the idea of christianity and how pre-destination does not exist. In the sermon he says: O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide an bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of God.(Sinners in the Hand of an angry...
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..."Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was a sermon given by the Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards. In this sermon Edwards uses the fear that God can punish the wicked at any time he wants, to keep his people under control. Some say this type of harsh preaching was a practice used by the puritans to make all people live a righteous and correct life. A multitude of people have analyzed ¨Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God¨ and have many different interpretations of it. Most would agree it is simply about a man trying to scare people into Christianity using the roaring wrath of God as stated above. There are others who have taken that idea and used it to compare different concepts. The ideas that stem from this sermon ¨Sinners in the Hands...
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...effectively. Jonathan Edwards uses many different figures of speech in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In order to keep his sermon interesting and meaningful, Edwards uses similes. He uses personification to give his sermon life and to connect with his audience. Finally, to create rhythm and mood, Jonathan Edwards uses alliteration. Edwards does a phenomenal job using these three figures of speech and provides excellent examples of each. A simile is a figure of speech where two unlike things are compared using the word “like” or “as”. Jonathan Edwards uses many similes...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of Sinners in the hands of an angry God Preacher, Jonathan Edwards author of Sinners in the hands of an angry God (1741) reveals that God is approaching mercy on people who sin. He’s trying to convince Puritan congregation that if you sin you will be damned to hell. Edwards develops this claim by clarifying that if the people in this congregation do not follow God’s will they will result in death by being sent to hell. His purpose is to convince Puritans that God is wrathful God and to also warn the people of the dangers of damnation. He uses structure, pathos and imagery to satisfy the reader that the people who are unrepentant may reject God. Edwards perspective of sin is like a force in a world that is dictated by the devil....
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...The Great Awakening was a movement in colonial times influenced by leaders such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. One of Jonathan edwards’ most influencial sermon was “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In this sermon, he demonstrates how God’s wrath is unstoppable and only Christ can save you from an eternity of misery. In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’, Jonathan Edwards impacts religious beliefs of colonial American people through rhetoric and persuasion during the Great Awakening. Edwards’ sermon revolutionizes the religious beliefs during the Great Awakening. Edwards uses the simile: “ The God holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like a fire… you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes than the worst venomous serpent is in ours” (Edwards 89). This new idea of God being a God of fury and relentless wrath revolutionized the belief of colonial Americans. William Farley states in his article on the Great Awakening that “Overnight, the town was transformed. The citizens sang hymns in the streets, the tavern closed, young people pursued God in bands, and it...
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...stories, “ The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards. The literary devices I will be using to express these differences and similarities will be symbolism, imagery , and foreshadowing. While I would characterize Hawthorne’s style as mysterious and dark Jonathan Edwards reveals the reader’s understanding of Puritan ideals of religion by giving the readers a new perspective on the ideal of God. In the book “The Minister’s Black Veil” Hawthorne uses symbolism to disguise a person visage . It states “ so far as my vow may suffer me know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever both light and darkness in solitude before the gaze of multitudes and as with strangers so with my familiar. No mortal eye will see it withdrawn.”(Hawthorne 5). He’s stating that the veil is keeping him who he is and will...
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...The verbalization, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, is set in the time of the Great Awakening. Although this time period was after the Puritans, it sets the stage for the abundance of Edwards’ notions. Edwards’ speech, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, speaks to the audience because of the harshness and the ability to create trepidation in people. He strategically lowers the audience’s self-love and makes it feel guilty until eventually when hearing the horrors of hell, you endure fear. The speech begins by making you terror hell and then gives you the loophole out of it. Although the message is not distinctly stated, Edwards’ vigor in speech blows the audience into believing every single word. Given the setting and circumstances of his time, Edwards' speech, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", is an example of an effective argument due to his allusions to the past and polished use of visual imagery to engender fear in his audience. Edwards’ speech uses visual imagery, therefore leaving a mark and creating guilt in the audiences’ conscious. After creating multiple emotions like: guilt, fear, self-realization, he gives them a mode to be saved from it all. Although each of these images were diminutive and concise, when allied with the allusions they create the trepidation Edwards worked...
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...Eternity is an inexplicable subject that lies beyond the human’s knowledge and power, which gradually diminish as faith and belief are the only remnant forces that guide human to the afterlife. Jonathan Edwards, the author of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and Anne Bradstreet, the author of Verses upon Burning of our House, both exemplify Puritan literature that reflects contemporary ideals and beliefs in the extraterrestrial life, embracing God as the ultimate deity who is responsible for salvation. Even though Edwards and Bradstreet share a veneration of God, their perceptions of God are contrasting, resulting in varying religious perspectives and literature voices that can be easily distinguished. The sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was written by Jonathan Edwards, a minister at a church in Northampton, to enlighten the congregation on its members’ behaviors. As he employs a logical...
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...Jonathan Edwards began to implement the ideals of the “Great Awakening” in his sermons as a response to the Enlightenment, solidifying his place as a “fire and brimstone” preacher. Jonathan Edwards’ intellect, exceptional writing abilities, and masterful use of persuasive, sentiment-driven rhetoric have allowed his works the blessing of endurance, yet his words leave a disturbing impact. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” demonstrates Edwards’ inability to preach in an innocuous manner; his intensity furthers an individual into religious precarity and a state of detriment. Edwards’ sensationalist works are an effective mechanism for fear mongering; however, they prove ineffectual long-term as it diminishes the value of Christianity. With his utilization of persuasive diction, harsh...
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...Luther King Jr’s Letter To Birmingham Jail and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry god by Jonathan Edwards,the task at hand was to analyze their techniques they used in order to see how the author is able to efficitvely send their messege to the readers.It was also to then determine who was more effective.To most readers,their effect of allusion towards the bible and complex sentences work more effectively on the audience of Letter to Birmingham,causing the readers to not only feel guilty,but also overwhelmed. Jonathan Edwards was a man of god.Growing up, he was the son of the pasture and he spent his days reading the bible.His belief was pure puritanical.Jonathan...
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