Rhetorical Analysis Of Jonathan Edwards 'Great Awakening'

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.

Jonathan Edwards uses several types of writing skills to persuade his audience of God’s intentions. His use of figurative language, analogies, imagery, and repetition all emphasize Edwards’s views. He uses fear, anger, and apathy to appeal to the audience in attempt to warn his audience of God’s intentions. Jonathan Edwards uses fear in this sermon to terrorize his audience into thinking of God as someone to be feared, not someone to be loved. Throughout the sermon, Edwards uses figurative language along with imagery to frighten the audience.

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 '.

Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan edwards’s Sinners in the hand of an angry god: jeremiad 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. Throughout Edwards’s sermon the use of turgid diction is exceedingly prevalent.

At this point Edwards has grasped the attention of his listeners by using pathos to pertain to their emotions and feelings. Towards the end of the sermon his tone switches to one of reason in terms of not neglecting his words. He asks a series of rhetorical questions such as those who are unconverted and do not teach their children of Christ that they too will have to witness the wrath of God. As for literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and allegories, Edwards does not disappoint for his use of them most likely whipped a lot of Puritans back into their faith.

One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.

Edwards quotes quickly from the Bible, showing that he is well-versed in scripture and therefore, qualified to give spiritual advice to his parishioners. An example from his sermon is when he ask “who knows the power of God 's anger?”(43) This is an allusion to Psalms 90:11 “who knoweth the power of thine anger?” In addition to establishing a biblical credibility he also reveals his knowledge about the events at the time. When Edwards says, “a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God.

He also describes the plights of those who didn't listen to their fear of God, but lived otherwise unobjectionable lives. The audience is meant to feel sympathy for them. "What would not these poor damned hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you know enjoy!" The audience is meant to want to convert for themselves, but also their lost loved ones who did not get the same chance. Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path.

This pathos appeal helps Edwards persuade the unconverted because they would not want to be left behind. He also illuminates that “God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell” (Edwards 41). Edwards discusses the interminably amount of diverse means that God could damn the unconverted to try getting the argument across that they will not comprehend death approaching and it could be at any moment. Another use of pathos in “Sinners” is when Edwards describes to the unconverted that “the wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber” (Edwards 41).

In crafting his highly effective sermon, Edwards utilizes his authority as a man of God and as an interpreter of the scriptures, a logical and direct organization of arguments, and violent imagery to convince his audience of the vengeance of God against man. Jonathan Edwards begins his sermon by quoting

The most important feature of a sermon is the application of a scripture text to the personal experience of the listener. Especially this last part is what reduced many of Edwards’s listeners to tears. In Edwards’s sermon the scripture text is “Their foot shall slide in due time”. This meant that eventually, all sinners would be punished by God, which could be at any time. Edwards speaks of a wrathfull God, a God who by Puritan standards is considered forgiving for not letting all of humanity fall into the deepest pits of hell.

Religion played an important role in each of the British colonies. Many Christian groups tried to enforce religious observance through the colony's government and the local town's rules. Some laws stated that everyone must attend a house of worship and pay taxes that helped fund the pay of ministers. Out of the thirteen colonies, only eight had official churches. In the colony, those who practice a different version of Christianity or a non- Christian faith were sometimes killed (www.facinghistory.org 1).

Jonathan Edwards was a great American theologian who was an eighteenth century Puritan preacher who delivered a six hour sermon in 1741, Connecticut to a congregation of Puritans. The purpose was to convince the congregation into seeking salvation by accepting God and to convince the unholy if they continued their ways they would end up in hell. To convince his audience Edwards uses rhetorical devices such as metaphor repetition and bandwagon to invoke fear into his audience. During Edwards Sermon he uses metaphor when describing God. In his sermon he states that God is a higher being who's hand is holding us, the sinners, above the fiery pits of hell.

On July 8, 1741 Jonathan Edwards delivered the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” During this time many people were moving away from their Puritan beliefs and did not make God a priority. In the message he talked about how everyone was a sinner and how everyone belongs in hell. He also talked about how if God wanted to He would throw everyone in Hell, but since He gave us His Son we should take Him and repent. While delivering this message many people began to repent and ask for forgiveness.

Jonathan Edwards once said: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” Since birth (October 5th, 1703), Jonathan has always been a devoted Puritan which explains why he began the Great Awakening, along with George Whitefield. Edwards started preaching and wanted people to reconvert to Puritanism. His work, “Sinners at the Angry Hands of God,” was written on July 8, 1741.