Sinners In The Hand Of An Angry God Rhetorical Analysis

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.

In colonial America, written documents were one of the few primary sources of this time. All the way back to John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity’’ in the 1630’s. Winthrop’s sermon shows how the only way their colony will succeed is through God. Jonathan Edwards sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” shows people how powerful God is and what he capable of doing. George Washington shows that honesty, respect, and self-discipline are all values that colonial people live off of to survive in their new environment. The tombstone of Benjamin Franklin’s parents is a good example of how a life was in Colonial America. When reading these four primary sources, the values of each time period seem to differ but have a common similarity.

The sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with many purposes. The main concept that Jonathan Edwards, the minister who wrote the sermon, wanted to get across is that God does not give any pity to those who do not believe in him and his gospel. He casts all of the sinners into the pits of hell and lets those who have been good live for eternity. This sermon was written after many reports of witchcraft came about in the New England colonies. These reports caused the Salem Witch Trials to occur and many people to become non-believers. Since these things started to occur Puritan ministers, such as Jonathan Edwards, had to make a change.

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

If you were to ask someone why is it that they stop at a red light, they’re response would most likely be “I don’t want to break the law and go to jail.” The reality is that we must obey the law not because of the fear of going to jail, but to create order in preventing a harmful outcome. Our government instills fear in our society to follow the law because that is the most effective way to dominate our behavior. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d”, delivered by Jonathan Edwards, a strict Puritan priest, is remembered as the most famous sermon ever preached on American soil. Today it appears in almost every anthology American Literature and stands alone as the only sermon included. It is an amazing text to the modern air even those who absorbed

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.

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.

“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. 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. Edwards reminds people that mankind is nothing compared to God and that that all of humankind is guilty and deserves to be punished.

"Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of all resolutions."- Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was a sermon written and delivered by American reverend Jonathan Edwards in 1741, and was an outstanding example of the potentially dominant convincing powers of the use of Rhetoric. The sermon, even when read silently, is effective in projecting a specific interpretation of the wrathful nature of God and the sinful nature of man. 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.

Another metaphor in the sermon is, “The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given, and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose… the waters are continually rising and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back that are unwilling to be stopped…” (Bedford 352). The whole point of what he is saying in this quote is just to stress the importance that only God’s grace can keep people from a loss from hate. The losses can include things like floods and burning flames. This quote talks about how the waves of water keep getting

The great awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the 1730s and 1740s. It started in England and then gradually made its way over to the American colonies. During this time, many different preachers and religious speakers went around and gave speeches to the people. Jonathan Edwards was one of Americas most important and original philosophical theologians who also went around and gave speeches about God and hell. 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. In “sinners in the hands of an angry God”, Jonathan Edwards uses different types of literary techniques, such as, imagery, metaphor, similes, repetition, and rhetorical questions to emphasize his point. His point is to scare the people and make them want to repent, which is the theme of the sermon.

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.

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

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.

On antor note, Edwards development in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” has a frightful and archaic language usage which help his sermon develop. To explain, Edwards usage of imagery/symbolism help develop the mode. “... hell is gaping for them…”(Edwards) this shows the way the author used his words to make the mood frightening. Also Edwards used second point of view which made it as if he was personally speaking to the readers. Edwards delivery was forceful and firm as if wanting the readers to comprehend every word he was