ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

907 Words4 Pages

Well known reverend and writer, Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon, Sinners in the hands of an Angry God, describes the dramatic fate of those who haven 't accepted Jesus Christ. Edwards purpose is to persuade members of his congregation to be “born again”. To be born again means to accept Jesus Christ. He creates a frightening tone in order to frighten unconverted men to believe in Jesus. Throughout his sermon he continuously reminds the reader of hell. Using vivid imagery and morbid diction he scares them into becoming “born again”. As a writer reverend Edwards wanted to persuade. To accomplish this he used many rhetorical devices. Speakers have been using persuasion for many years but, it was Aristotle who coined the term ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is persuading an audience using credibility. One …show more content…

Edwards quotes quickly from the Bible, showing that he is well-versed in scripture and therefore, qualified to give spiritual advice to his parishioners. An example from his sermon is when he ask “who knows the power of God 's anger?”(43) This is an allusion to Psalms 90:11 “who knoweth the power of thine anger?” In addition to establishing a biblical credibility he also reveals his knowledge about the events at the time. When Edwards says, “a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming.”(44) he is referencing the hundreds of people being converted during the Great Awakening. Using the reference he establishes a more personal trust showing that he is not only a preacher but, a member of society. In conclusion, Edwards was a powerful speaker and writer. His words could bring a room full of people to their knees. His use of strong imagery and diction persuades and shocks the congregation even more than just saying they were going to hell. If they didn 't already leave from fear they were crying from thinking they would go to hell. His speech will go down in history for one of the best fire and brimstone

Show More
Related
688 Words | 3 Pages

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. Johnathan Edwards uses many rhetorical strategies in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". He uses repetition throughout the sermon. The main idea that he repeats is that if you do not love and believe in God, then you are going to hell.

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

A lot of Edwards writing is meant for a more mature audience and mostly Puritans. Edwards uses fear to persuade the audience into being a servant of God. He was very strict in his morals and if you did not obey God you would go to hell, and if you were a good servant you would go to heaven. As a pastor he believed everyone should go to heaven and he would do anything to make sure of that, in one of Edwards writings “From Sinners in the Hands of God” he would use words like “his wrath in hell” (Edwards 79).

Read More
146 Words | 1 Pages

At this point Edwards has grasped the attention of his listeners by using pathos to pertain to their emotions and feelings. Towards the end of the sermon his tone switches to one of reason in terms of not neglecting his words. He asks a series of rhetorical questions such as those who are unconverted and do not teach their children of Christ that they too will have to witness the wrath of God. As for literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and allegories, Edwards does not disappoint for his use of them most likely whipped a lot of Puritans back into their faith.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

This dramatic imagery shows the Puritans that God will no longer come to their rescue because the Puritans have chosen to serve Satan. Edwards tries to reach his audience by saying Hell is a “great furnace of wrath” where sinners belong. This description of Hell shows Edwards belief that sinners will pay for not serving God by facing God’s wrath in Hell. Each claim made by Jonathan Edwards motivates the audience to stop serving Satan in order to escape the “very misery to all eternity” that is Hell. The ideas presented in Jonathan Edwards’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, are intensified by the use of rhetorical devices.

Read More
1000 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1763 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

It is explained that God is the only one who is able to save people from going to Hell. Edwards wants people to imagine how evil and distressed life would be without Gods love and mercy. He explains that to not burn in Hell people need to ask for forgiveness from God, experience Gods mercy, and continuously practice the Lords word. Edwards really lets the message of “Gods wrath” sink into our minds to show how mighty, powerful, and capable the Lord is. The Lord gives us many opportunities to rely on Him and when we need his love and mercy the most.

Read More
549 Words | 3 Pages

Edwards wants us to know that when we don’t listen to God and turned away from and when we follow the Satan’s ways, we will go to Hell. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Johnathan Edwards, wants us to imagine Hell and what the consequences are. Edwards wants us to know that men who are sinners are more likely to go to Hell, and to consider the danger that we are

Read More
873 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

On July 8, 1741 Jonathan Edwards delivered the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” During this time many people were moving away from their Puritan beliefs and did not make God a priority. In the message he talked about how everyone was a sinner and how everyone belongs in hell. He also talked about how if God wanted to He would throw everyone in Hell, but since He gave us His Son we should take Him and repent. While delivering this message many people began to repent and ask for forgiveness.

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

He also describes the plights of those who didn't listen to their fear of God, but lived otherwise unobjectionable lives. The audience is meant to feel sympathy for them. "What would not these poor damned hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you know enjoy!" The audience is meant to want to convert for themselves, but also their lost loved ones who did not get the same chance. Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path.

Read More
864 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
404 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
928 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
116 Words | 1 Pages

This helps Jonathan Edwards to pursuade the puritans by saying they will be abandoned by their god and be taen away from the world. Edwards language induces that he wants the people to repent their sins. Jonathan Edwards incorporates Metaphors

Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Related Topics

Open Document