ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis Of Jonathan Edwards

790 Words4 Pages

Jonathan Edwards, the preacher from the sermon Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God, preaches to his fellow devotees to God, to "inspire" people to participate in the worshiping of God. In reality, Edward's ineffectiveness in using dysphemisms, hyperbole, and negative appeals in his speech, makes his message deeply unbelievable. Edwards harsh diction toward opposing opinions makes one view him as attacking other aspects of a different beliefs. In the fifth paragraph Edwards said, "Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead…" This sentence gives a feeling to be a little taken back by his tone. He disgustedly said "your wickedness" like you ,as in non-believers in God, are doing the absolute worst thing in the world. Saying you're "as …show more content…

Edwards mentioned in paragraph 1, "So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it…" Edwards exaggerates drastically with this sentence. The "natural men are held in the hands of God" originally doesn’t sound so bad but the statement "over the pit of hell" is what is exaggerated. Natural, or normal, men that are in the hands of God about to plunge into the depths of hell is a bit out of context. Not only is it out of context, but also saying "they have deserved the fiery pit" is very grim. He then continued paragraph 1 saying "God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell…" What he is really saying is if God is enraged, then his wrath is not better that people who have actually gone to hell. The question is, what provokes God? In Edward’s mind, determining from the rest of his speech, not being faithful to God is enough to enrage him. This seems exaggerated that not being faithful to God can put you in hell. It is not satisfying enough to believe his purpose for his speech. Emphasizing situations does not make Edwards sound more credible, but

Show More
Related
615 Words | 3 Pages

Jonathan Edward’s role as minister establishes his ethical and moral stance. Yet he chooses to instill fear and worry within his listeners, “so thus it is , that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of Hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked. ”(267) When appealing to the moral reasoning of the convention members Patrick Henry assures them that God will

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

He also states it is only God's pleasure that we are not falling into the fire and brimstone tht is hell, Edwards then goes on to compare God's wrath to swirling waters ready to devour sinners in its fiery floods. So strong that even the strongest devil would be no match against the flood that is God's wrath. The comparison shows that God

Read More
1032 Words | 5 Pages

He juxtaposes alternatives to the previously mentioned and dreaded scenarios and punishments. Contrarily, he states “[Christ] stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners” (129). Bringing upon the common idea of God’s acceptance, Edwards appeals to ethos in his final paragraph inserting cheerful thoughts. He establishes juxtaposition, comparing “sins in his own blood, and … hope of the glory of God” (129). Comparing the Devil-like blood with sins sparking the capable ability to reach the hope of God brings a sense of chance and possibility to the audience.

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
180 Words | 1 Pages

Edwards wrote his sermon in hopes of persuading his audience to view God in his way through both emotion and logic. By illustrating Hell as a “dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God” (para. 1), he is playing with the emotions of his audience in an attempt to put them in a state of fear. He continually uses long-winded descriptions about God’s disregard for humans and the eternal torment that awaits them. This shows that he is not only trying to make his audience feel the emotion of fear, but he also attempts to convince his audience through logic. By settting this emotion of fear upon his audience, he offers a sort of solace at the end of his sermon, quoting from the bible in his final line.

Read More
337 Words | 2 Pages

“...You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels…,” Jonathan Edwards wrote in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This quote shows pathos, a tool he used to stir up emotion to show that if you’re a sinner God will come for. Edward also shows many other tools as he tries to convince others to exit the sinner life into the Puritan Life. Edward uses ethos when he says, “The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present.”

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
197 Words | 1 Pages

The third literary device Edwards uses in his sermon is similes. With similes, Edwards is making comparisons between different things, linking them with the words “as” or “like” an example of this is “That God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire (…).” This can be interpreted as the way God holds humans over the pits of hell, just as humans would hold a loathsome creature over fire. Using this comparison, Edwards makes his audience think about their own action and about Gods immense power over them.

Read More
873 Words | 4 Pages

This interpretation of God becomes the reference point for the rest of the sermon. All of the commands and accusations in the sermon rely on Edwards' portrait of God as an angry, all-powerful being that has no obligation to have mercy upon his creations. By convincing his congregation of God's wrathful character, Edwards is then able to convince the congregation that they are in danger of damnation and severe punishment at the hand of this wrathful God. Edwards characterizes God as a being that "abhors" mortal men and "looks upon [them] as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire" (200). Edwards then uses scriptural references to support his claims about the nature of God.

Read More
1253 Words | 6 Pages

In Edward’s eyes, God’s patience will eventually run out, and there would be no more room for mercy and forgiveness. In order for Jonathan Edwards to demonstrate his attitude of God being powerful, he compared the powers of God to the strength of water using a simile. “The wrath of God is like great waters… 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” (Paragraph 3). The longer he holds his anger in, the stronger God gets. God’s anger will keep building up until he could no longer tolerate it.

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, wrote the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". In the sermon, Edwards argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path. The tone of the sermon is indignant and authoritative. Jonathan Edwards uses imagery, logos, and pathos to encourage the unconverted audience to turn to God in order to escape his wrath. Elemental imagery is used in the sermon to inspire fear in the audience.

Read More
420 Words | 2 Pages

In the sermon "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God" Jonathon Edwards uses various rhetorical devices to persuade his audience. The sermon was made on July 8, 1741 at a time were everyone believed in God and everything revolved around the bible. In his sermon, Edwards used allusions, similes, and personification to show God's anger towards humans. In the 17th century people's beliefs were all based on the bible. Everyone could refer to the bible as one of the only books they knew.

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

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Jonathan Edwards

Related Topics

Open Document