Jonathan Edwards Persuasive Techniques

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Jonathan Edwards expertly uses persuasive appeal in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Some persuasive techniques include repetition, biblical allusion, and the use of pathos and ethos. His main reason to use these techniques was to emphasize the necessity for people to cease their sinful actions. Edwards recalls stories of fires, floods, and destruction mentioned in the bible. When he uses these examples, he is using ethos. There is use of biblical allusion when Edward’s discusses the city of Sodom, a city destroyed by fire due to people’s sinfulness. He reminds the audience to “fly out of Sodom” (Edwards 91) and includes this in his sermon to emphasize that sinful action could destroy a whole city. This not only incites

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