Through connecting psychological principles with accentuated rhetoric, Jonathan Edward’s delivers “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” initially stirring the First Great Awakening. The basis of his sermon relies on a mix of imagery and rhetoric with an impassive delivery to condemn those currently who do not have the spirit of God striving within them. He further sentences those who resist and sin, by speaking of God’s sovereignty with severity, using graphic metaphoric language, thus hyperboles descriptions of God and the fate of the congregation.
On his pulpit, Edwards portrays a God himself, who harshly opposes all human order for holding a sense of security, for these efforts inspire rebellion and self-reliance, which leads to blind
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This principle can be shown in the brick kiln figure, which achieves the nakedness of the idea. In the last five paragraphs he states his bare notion stating, “That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you” (106). This passage serves to illustrate his immediacy of physical detail, which preceded with gradual building metaphors. The bare experience would allow those in the pulpit to sense the eventual suffering, thus becoming a victim of Edward’s style of relied syntax to finally reach his overall point. The communication of his ideas enter the mind of the auditors through such bare sensory experiences, thwarting their “rebel” hearts (p.102). Recalling the key images of: wickedness heavy as lead, earth ready to spew out the sinner, the black clouds of God wrath, the dammed waters of God’s wrath, the bent bow of God’s wrath, and the sinner-as-spider held by God over the fire (p.107). All six of these separate metaphors have coherence and become explicated tied to the congregation with the following and applied physical principle. Overall the passage of fire and brimstone alludes to God’s wrath and to persuade those into repentance. The achievement of this passage, commands to visualize the world and lake of sulfur, leading into images of suffering. In his blunt manner, this concept of hell and suffering recalls of Edwards’ style of writing, illustrating Lockean use of language. To those in the pews, this original use of metaphor of hell would resonate as the truth, their sensory experiences pervaded by Edwards’ typical blunt
Edwards' distinct diction is put to work to descriptively describe the power of the Lord and the unpleasant Hellfire that awaits the sinners. Such words efficiently infiltrate into the minds of his audience and scare them greatly. Edwards held his congregation locked up with his assurance of eternal damnation if the correct course of action was not taken. The church assembly felt the great impact of his rhetorical tactics and had the fear of the power of God on their minds.
In the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards delivers his ideas about the God’s rage and human sinfulness to his audience by using strong diction, imagery, similes. Edwards uses strong dictions such as the repetition of the word “wrath,” to emphasize the exceeding anger of God to alert his listeners of the dangers of sin. Diction is the choice of words an author uses. Different dictions can have diverse effects on the
Held in lore of American protestantism, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached by Jonathan Edwards, is often considered the epitome of a fire and brimstone sermon. Using the thematic elements of eloquence and precisely created rhetorical devices, Edwards uses these resources to connect his audience to the pretentious, Puritan ordinances of “high church.” First, Edwards was cognizant of his surrounds and what his audience was familiar with in terms of setting. As a preacher on the Eastern seaboard, Edwards knew his audience understood the refuge of the mountains and the serenity in which they encapsulated. At the conclusion of his sermon, Edwards urges his audience to, “haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be
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 '.
In the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards delivers his ideas about the God’s rage and human sinfulness to his audience by using
Jonathan Edwards depicts God as a wrathful, harsh and aggressive deity. His sermon emphasizes on the importance of salvation and remorse. Reflecting Puritan ideals, he expresses Gods vision of humans. How people are instinctive sinners and God is the only one able to determine those worthy of salvation. His stated principles construe the main pillar of their religion, predestination.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The victimization of fears and securities is a main weapon in the belt of those who wish to lead and conquer. This is proved when in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards uses dark imagery and tone, telling the congregation, “O, Sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in... You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it” (156).
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. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.
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
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. Elemental imagery is used in the sermon to inspire fear in the audience.
Often in the sermons pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or more fashion. Such is the case in Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” where he sends sinners to hell, who do not repent. Edwards wanted to impact his audience by appealing to their fears, pity and vanity. Edwards had a powerful impact on his puritan audience because of his use of a cautionary tone, clear imagery and complex figurative language.