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The modern impact of the second great awakening
The great awakening reflection
The great awakening reflection
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In 1741, Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan preacher of that time, had one thing on his mind: to convert sinners, on the road to hell, to salvation. It just so happened to be, that his way of doing that was to preach the reality to them and scare them to the point of conversion. Sermons of this time were preached to persuade people to be converted and to me it seemed that Edwards just had a special way of doing it. Just as people are being influenced by rhetoric appeals today Edwards used the same method on his congregation. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards positively affected his readers using pathos, logos, and ethos, while trying to convince the unconverted members of his sermon to be born again. Pathos is the most obvious …show more content…
He speaks with some allusions and phrases that show the audience that he is well educated in the subject that he is speaking on. He says that, "Who knows the power of God 's anger" (Edwards 43)? This is an allusion from Psalm 90:11 in the bible and he just assumes that his readers are aware of what he is referring to when he says this. Since Edwards was a respected preacher of that time the sermon meant more to the people because of his qualifications and his experience ("Using" 14). Also throughout his sermon he refers to a happening of that time which was known as the great awakening. When speaking of this Edwards stated "Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south; many that were lately in the same condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them" (Edwards 44). He told them about the others who have already came and been converted to Christianity and hopes that showing them the others that have came they would also change their ways and be converted. Also, this being the time of the great awakening he wants the unconverted of his congregation to become a part of it and referencing to this event helps contribute to their
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” proves more effective because it creates more fear and worry in the audience, meanwhile “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” attempts to spark a need for liberty in the intended audience. Not to say that “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” becomes any less effective because of persuasion used in the piece, it’s just not as effective as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Both pieces get their points across quite well, but in the end “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” proves to be more effective for the intended audience than “The Speech in the Virginia Convention”.
...God”, by Jonathan Edwards successfully persuaded the Puritans to be converted back to Puritanism. Through Edwards’ sermon the Puritans were compelled to renew their faith back to God. Edwards gave the Puritans a sense of realization, which caused them to go back to their congregation. Edwards horrified the Puritans, with his use of vivid and descriptive imagery, which effectively persuaded them to return to the congregation. Through his utilization of numerous loaded and highly emotional diction, he petrified and convinced the Puritans to go back to the church of God. He also gloriously enhances his sermon with his utilization of threatening and fearful tone tormented the Puritans and convinces them to be pious once again. Jonathan Edwards’s utilization of numerous rhetorical strategies effectively persuaded the Puritans to convert back to their congregations.
On July 8th 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards states to his listeners that God does not lack in power, and that people have yet not fallen to destruction because his mercy. God is so forgiving that he gives his people an opportunity to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Edwards urges that the possibility of damnation is immanent. Also that it urgently requires the considerations of the sinner before time runs out. He does not only preach about the ways that make God so omnipotent, but the ways that he is more superior to us. In his sermon, Edwards uses strong, powerful, and influential words to clearly point out his message that we must amend our ways or else destruction invincible. Edwards appeals to the spectators though the various usages of rhetorical devices. This includes diction, imagery, language/tone and syntax. Through the use of these rhetoric devices, Edwards‘s purpose is to remind the speculators that life is given by God and so they must live according to him. This include...
In the passages “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both powerful text. Edwards used more of an effective style to get his point through. He used a harsh and blunt tone to prove the God is a powerful man and can strike at any time but does not. This is why his text is better that Hawthornes.
Edwards and King both are very powerful speakers. They know how to capture their audience's attention merely through words. Both King and Edwards wanted people to change their ways, though not for the same reason. They both put all they had into their speeches making them very emotional speakers. With their words they painted pictures of what they wanted the people to think of as they listened.
Within the given sentence excerpt from Edwards' 'Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God'; you may perceive that the speaker is undoubtedly reaching for the audiences attention without sustaining his harsh yet fearful manner. Throughout this controlled harsh tone of voice, he captivates the audience through a deep sense of threat or harm. Within this deep threatening and captivating speech, the speaker uses God as the higher power in order to obtain the audiences attention, to grasp each person's emotions and fill them with fear. The speaker uses fear to complete the assurance of the people to do his intentions.
In these text, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the preachers are teaching their congregations a lesson.
Figurative language is used in a lot of writings to pull you more into the words. Figurative language uses the five senses to place a deep picture in your mind of what is actually happening. Metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, etc. are all figurative devices used in writing. Without using any of these things writing would be straight forward and not so complicated to understand. When figurative language is used it makes the reader really think about what is being said by the author and what point the author is trying to make. Both "The Iroquois Constitution” and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” use figurative language but for different reasons.
... and taught that mankind is not immortal but weak and in need of God’s sovereignty. Edwards wrote "the God that holds you over the pit of hell…” meaning God has the power to strike man down at any time. He stressed that mankind is small and God is much bigger. He thought that mankind must be submissive to God in order to please God.
The Bible was a large part of the lives of these people. With that, as many religious leaders before and after him, Edwards's source of inspiration and guidance was the Bible. He often used parts or sections of biblical verse rather than complete text because too much information might diminish the importance of his primary intent. An example of how he preached to the people can be seen in Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In this sermon he addressed the issues of man as a sinner, God's hate of sinners - wrath of God. Throughout the sermon he addressed the damnation of man, the process of salvation and redemption. He hammered at his congregation using guilt and fear for their souls. It is a moving and powerful sermon that would have put fear in my head if I was in attedance during this time. This sermon, delivered in 1741, persuaded his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs. In the sermon he portrays God as an all powerful and all knowing being. He depicts Him with the ability to both crush and save a soul.
In The Sinners in the hands of an angry God, Jonathan Edwards main goal was to make the audience repent. He spoke of God’s wrath and how far away from the path the audience was. Vivid imagery in this includes, “You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it(69-70 pg 124)”. Edwards also spoke of God’s forgiveness and how the audience must turn away from the dark path and walk into the light to be saved. This scared many people, like people say the truth hurts. The actions of the people hurt God and in return he was going to make
Jonathan Edwards and Patrick Henry were two of the greatest, inspirational writers of the late 1700s. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” written by Jonathan Edwards in 1714, and “Speech in the Virginia Convention” written by Patrick Henry in 1775, are two of the most recognizable pieces from these authors. This essay will be comparing and contrasting these two pieces of literature. Both have similarities in their purpose of writing, tone, and use of Biblical allusions; yet, they still differ in their choice of appeals, audience, and figurative
In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards created the emotion of fear by using imagery and figurative language to persuade his audience. He used imagery and figurative language so the wrath of God is more fearsome and gave you a mental picture of hell in your head.
Throughout the sermon, Edwards utilized the rhetorical strategies of rhetorical appeals, imagery, and symbolism to support his statement on the fate of sinners. The audience of Edwards was emotionally moved by his exemplification usage on the descriptions of afterlife punishment and were pushed toward the "purity" in their lifestyle. The Great Awakening was a time of enlightenment that was due to many rhetorically supported preachers who spoke to connect their audiences to the themes of their
One of the most prominent themes is the idea that the devil is responsible for sin. The imagery and symbols found throughout the essay build upon this theme. When Edwards says: “You are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful serpent is in ours” (26), he wants the audience to understand that by sinning, you are doing the devils work. Another theme that is present in the sermon is God’s power and grace, which Edward uses to give the audience one glimpse of hope at the end of the sermon. By stating that “you have an extraordinary opportunity…Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open” (33), he gives the audience more reason to convert back to God.