“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God. Mentioned throughout …show more content…
Edwards was not known for delivering his speeches with passion, but rather let the words sink deeply within the audience for their own interpretation. He paints a picture of Hell that is so frightening to the audience that their attention is captured. Edwards depicts the wrath of God against sinners by announcing: “The pit is prepared, the fire is ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them…the glittering sword is whet, and held over them” (11). The image of being burned alive as a result of sin left an emotional impact on the audience. The pit symbolizes Hell and the devil while the glittering sword symbolizes the divine justice of God to punish or reward people for their actions on earth. The symbols and images reinforce each other because they create a dark image of the future in the minds of the audience, and also present familiar religious signs like fire in Hell. What makes the imagery so effective in the essay is that it resonates with the audience because of the religious connections that Edwards …show more content…
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. The themes present throughout the sermon are interconnected and intertwined to create a more convincing sermon. Edwards links the themes of God’s grace and strength with the theme of inevitable death to evoke fear in the audience. He tells the audience that only God’s grace can save believers, showing that death is inevitable. These themes are seen throughout the sermon to evoke fear and keep the audience attentive to his sermon. By being connected, the themes create a more persuasive piece of work, because they are able to link together throughout the sermon so that Edwards remains on topic and the audience continues to listen. The themes that are seen throughout the work are very effective in
In his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards he displays the Puritan belief that men are saved by grace. Edward, however, use rhetorical devices to make his sermon persuasive by using vibrant images and figure of speech to make these men repent.
Jonathan Edwards creates a more effective argument for the intended audience in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” than “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” written by Patrick Henry, by utilizing various techniques. Patrick Henry makes a strong argument however in the end, Edwards’ sermon grows to be more effective. Edwards creates the argument by strengthening the writing through tone, structure, fallacies and knowledge of the congregation that became his audience. Henry’s piece uses methods of oratory persuasion but the actual topic of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” has an advantage from the start by appealing to fear, a fallacy of logic. Even with the strong basis “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry, Edwards’ “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” proves the more effective piece in the end.
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, he preached about a stricter Calvinist theology of Puritanism. Edwards delivered it at the Massachusetts congregation on July 8, 1741. He blatantly uses rhetorical strategies to instill fear into his audience if they are to continue to not be active Puritans in religion. Edwards uses polysyndeton, harsh diction and tone, and the appeal to emotion along with the use of semicolons to develop his message.
Edwards applied masses of descriptive imagery in his sermon to persuade the Puritans back to their congregation. For example, he gave fear to the Puritans through this quote, “We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth, so it is easy for us to cut a singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by, thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell…” (pg. 153) In this quotation, he utilized vivid imagery because he wanted the Puritans to visibly imagine what he was saying through his sermon, on how angry God is with them, which made them convert back to Puritanism. Through the use of vivid imagery such as “crush a w...
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 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.
Edwards, who also had Puritan beliefs, was a philosopher and theologian and his way of thinking was more in-depth and complex. He used repetition to drive his sermons home and convinced his congregations of the evils and wickedness of hell through the use of intense analogies. His “fire and brimstone” way of preaching frightened people and made them feel a deep need for salvation. Edwards believed that all humans were natural sinners and God was eagerly awaiting to judge them. He wrote "their foot shall slide in due time" meaning that mankind was full of inevitable sinners.
On July 8, 1741 Congregational minister, John Edwards, delivered a sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” before a Massachusetts congregation in order to dismiss some of the colonist’s belief that hell is not real. Edwards’s objective is to abolish any doubts against god and hell that the colonists have. He uses strategies such as anaphora, figurative language, polysyndeton, all while instilling a feeling of angst in his audience through his tone.
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
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.
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.
Jonathan Edwards was a man who could petrify any eighteenth century Puritan. He was born in East Windsor, Connecticut and was raised in a household with strict religious beliefs. In 1727 he began his preaching career as an assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, the pastor at the church at Northampton, Massachusetts. When his grandfather died two years later, Edwards became the pastor of the Church at Northampton and began preaching all over New England. He then emerged as one of the leaders of the Great Awakening with his determination to return to the orthodoxy of the Puritan faith. That is when he adopted his “fire and brimstone” emotional style of sermon. Although people often ran out of the church in hysterics, most stayed in the church captivated by his speeches. He had always purposely chose to address his congregation with a sermon, using all of the elements of an oratory. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards displays all elements of an oratory by appealing to emotions, including expressive and rhythmic language, addressing the needs and concerns of his audience, and inspiring others to take action.
imagery and connotation to create pathos and logos to strike fear into the readers, and
In contrast, Edwards theme has to do with God's ability to strike you down, yet had such