Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Jonathan edwards, is known as one of the most important religious figures of the great awakening, edwards became known for his zealous sermon “sinners at the hand of an angry god”. During his sermon he implies that if his congregation does not repent to christ they are in “danger of great wrath and infinite misery”. Throughout this sermon edwards uses literary devices such as strong diction, powerful syntax and juxtaposition to save his congregation from eternal damnation.

Did you know that Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are very similar? Well Bradstreet and Edwards are both Puritans and have a strong faith even though Bradstreet's faith came throughout her experiences in life and Edwards was born into it. They both believe that there are strict rules on how to be obedient and a good servant in the eyes of god. Even though they have similar beliefs and morals they both have some differences, like their way of preaching, Edwards preaches in a very harsh way to scare his listeners into the hands of god, while Bradstreet says as long as you are good and obey God he will reward you and you will have a happy life but if you disobey him then he will take away your blessings. Bradstreet and Edwards are both very famous authors, and have very famous poetry. Though Bradstreet and Edwards are similar their writing is very different.

Jonathan Edwards relied more on the composition of his writing rather than the execution of it which is why figurative language is found so often in this sermon. The majority of this sermon is dedicated to the audience whom Edwards views with repulsion. He uses imagery to describe the awful Hell that he believes the people in the congregation will end up in and calls it a “great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath” (Paragraph 8). He illustrates the never ending state of Hell in order to frighten everyone in the audience. He sees each and every person as damned and honestly believes they deserve be sent to Hell to burn for all eternity. He feels no sympathy for them because they are completely free to do what they want and he knows that what they do with their free will is commit sin. This

Edwards really lets the message of “Gods wrath” sink into our minds to show how mighty, powerful, and capable the Lord is. The Lord gives us many opportunities to rely on Him and when we need his love and mercy the most. People ignore that and believe they can be their own gods. This is not right because Jesus says in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the father except through me.” Meaning that the only way to not end up in Hell is to except Jesus Christ into your heart.

In 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered a sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to a congregation in Enfield, Connecticut. This sermon was so influential and poignant that today it has transformed into a piece of literature that many study in classes. This bit of literature is so utterly jam-packed with the use of rhetorical appeals, often referred to as ethos, pathos, and logos. These three appeals are derived from ancient Greece, or more precisely, the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Ethos appeals to the audience’s sense of trust, pathos, to their sense of emotion, and logos, to their sense of logic. The use of ethos, pathos, and logos in any type of writing or speaking can create a commanding and arresting effect on the reader/listener.

In the sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry god,” Edwards uses different types of

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, wrote the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". In the sermon, Edwards argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path. The tone of the sermon is indignant and authoritative. Jonathan Edwards uses imagery, logos, and pathos to encourage the unconverted audience to turn to God in order to escape his wrath.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, is a Puritan sermon from the eighteenth century during the Great Awakening. During this time, Puritans had strayed from the church due to the church’s strict guidelines and regulations and begun to embrace more secular thought. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, was written to motivate people to join the newly refined church that embraced these secular thoughts. Jonathan Edwards uses rhetorical devices throughout his sermon to show God’s wrath on sinners and to instill the fear of God in Puritans.

Jonathan Edwards speech "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." is a speech that uses techniques to attract the puritans attention I found him using Personification, Metaphors and also Imagery.

The sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was so effective because it showed people who they really are. The sermon opened people’s eyes to where they were spiritually, how powerful God truly is, and the things He can do but chooses not to. The sermon described how we are all born sinners and deserve to go to hell. But God had mercy on the human race and decided to pay the price for everyone. Edwards pointed out that many people are coming to Christ and taking advantage of the opportunity that God gave them. He then ask the audience why they are not jumping at the opportunity and ask them if they want to be children of God or children with

It is 1741. The Enlightenment is spreading worldwide. The puritan people are leaving God. Johnathan Edwards gives a sermon on July 8th , 1741, trying to convince his fellow Puritan people to come back to God. He is going to try and accomplish this by giving his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God '. He plys many different rhetorical strategies to convince his listeners to follow his word. He uses strategies including, repetition, appeal to fear, appeal to urgency and problem solution.

this point Edwards has grasped the attention of his listeners by using pathos to pertain to their

This interpretation of God becomes the reference point for the rest of the sermon. All of the commands and accusations in the sermon rely on Edwards' portrait of God as an angry, all-powerful being that has no obligation to have mercy upon his creations. By convincing his congregation of God's wrathful character, Edwards is then able to convince the congregation that they are in danger of damnation and severe punishment at the hand of this wrathful God. Edwards characterizes God as a being that "abhors" mortal men and "looks upon [them] as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire" (200). Edwards then uses scriptural references to support his claims about the nature of God. He says, "We often read of the fury of God" (Edwards 201), "How awful are those words, Isaiah 63:3, which are the words of the great God" (Edwards 202), and quotes other scriptures in order to illustrate his point. Once again, he justifies his arguments by relying upon the word of God (scripture) and his own authority to interpret those

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle.

Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” was a very persuasive sermon in its time for accentuate reasons. The lecture was targeted at an audience of a sinning lifestyle. The people were limited to a small amount of intellectual knowledge on religion. The listeners possessed little opportunity to form other opinions on the matter. This was crucial to Edwards in persuading their thoughts and even values. The sermon was written in 1741 in the time of the witch trials. Odds being in his favor, people formally took this speech literally. Edwards is also very descriptive with his writing. This also helps paint a picture for the audience. Of course it's not a pretty one, but if they could imagine it helps them believe just much more.