Analysis Of ' The Hands Of An Angry God '

In a great percentage of history books the information given is only given from one perspective. One when is reading or listening to an historical account, one must take into consideration who the historian in order to gain more insight into why they may have a particular account about a particular event. The same is true when looking at churches. Because white experiences in this country differ so greatly from those of African-Americans, The Black Church has the burden of being a spiritual backbone of a community while also being able to relate to the specific experiences of African-Americans. Calhoun argues that if blacks are able to get away from the image of God given to them by whites and form their own, they would be more likely to relate to this image and as result would become more empowered and connected to their race. The idea of racial empowerment and black theology can be considered as counterparts. If one is given a religion that is based on experiences that are not their own, and cannot relate those experiences to themselves, they are more likely to be apathetic towards them. Religion has long served as a means of moral and emotional support. Calhoun argues Blacks

Evans’s third chapter, “The Social Sciences and the Professional Discipline of Black Religion”, connected thoughts on black religion on a more professional, study based level. The chapter shows how the social sciences pathologized the religious experiences of black southerners at the turn of the 20th century with new psychology. This psychology offered new interpretations of black religion, based around emotionalism, that provided an ideology for the oppression of blacks in the South. There was a substantial building on the popular theories of white protestants that severed the connection between black religion and the ethics or morality that generally comes with religion by arguing that black religion had no effect on the morality of African Americans and was simply barbaric. By negatively reconstructing the idea of black religion, the social scientists supported widespread claims of the degeneration of blacks and argued that a “naturally criminal and immoral character” was the culprit for the

In “Sinners of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards depicts God as almighty yet wrathful and hell as a grotesque eternal home for sinners. Edwards uses personification, simile, and metaphors to make people to return to the righteous path.

In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards delivers a powerful sermon to his congregation about the horrors of hell. Throughout the piece, the author explains there is no escape from “eternal destruction,” and one must join God to reach salvation (para. 27). Edwards uses dark, gruesome imagery along with gloomy diction in order to instill fear into the audience, and persuade them to more devoutly worship God.

Imagine a world where people are living for themselves. People thriving to succeed in their careers, working hard to accumulate wealth, and dealing only with issues that affect them personally. A world where people are completely oblivious as to who created them, what He did for them, and what their true mission in life should be. In Counter Culture, author David Platt, brings to light different problems we face in our world today. He discusses various topics, including marriage and sexual morality, giving each one real life examples of issues humanity experiences every day. But not only does he bring these issues to the readers’ attention, he gives them a biblical view of why these issues are disliked in the eyes of God, and several different steps they can take to help make a difference in our world today.

Dr. Terrell's central thesis is to address the challenges of racist anthropological assumptions, still used to justify and maintain white privileges. Although the biblical paradigm of the Exodus and the proclamation of Jesus claim that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me … to proclaim release to the captives … to set at liberty those who are oppressed … to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18ff.).

Two coarse yet uniquely fragile societies, three hundred years apart, devoured by individual ideologies that permeated belief systems, that blinded, deafened, and muted citizens, and that ultimately led to gruesome hysteria. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, written by Jonathan Edwards in the mid-1700’s, is a sermon directed to a Puritan congregation urging with orthodox fervor for transgressors to repent. Arthur Miller wrote the allegorical play The Crucible in 1953, lively portraying the hysteria occurring during the Salem Witch Trials in an effort to describe his perceptions of the post-war climate of McCarthyism and the sheer terror of Communism. In the pulpit oratory “Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards eloquently uses imagery, metaphors, and symbolism in order to instill fear in his congregation and persuasively explain to them that, aside from faith and the pleasure of God, one would be rapidly and eternally damned to Hell; Miller, on the other hand, exploits allegory, characterization, and imagery throughout the play The Crucible in order to fervently articulate his disdainful attitude regarding McCarthyism and the Red Scare.

African-American men and white men are born and raised within the continental U.S.; each of their own faculty empowered to change the social injustice of a society. The innate qualities of the African American do not compare to those of the white man, yet - “empowered” they are with character. The foundation for the concept –“character” is best defined as “holistic,” meaning of physical, mental and social qualities – A. Adler’s school of thought, as well as A. Maslow and C. Rogers’ thoughts –“[a]n equal human being… cognitive, emotional, and volitional” (Ambrus, 33 -34)

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher during the American Enlightenment period, was mostly known for his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The Enlightenment, an eighteenth-century movement distinguished by the belief in the power of human reason and by advancements in political, religious, and educational doctrine. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was written as a response to the Puritans losing their faith because of the new scientific theories and emphasis on human reason that contradicted the word of God. Jonathan Edwards wrote the sermon to persuade the Puritans that lost faith, by threatening and warning them of the wrath of God. He used this tactic to convince the perplexed Puritans that continuing to sin would guarantee their condemnation to hell.

Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In Literature of America, complied by Jan Anderson and Laurel Hicks, 19-25. Pensacola: A Beka Book, 2010.

7a. In the sermon, “from Sinners In The Hands of an Angry God”, by Jonathan Edwards, there is passion within the text that he believes strongly about the multiple tenets of Puritanism, one of the Puritan philosophical beliefs can be seen as Backsliding. As explained, it would not really matter if compared a person who strayed from the path or a person who has “reformed life in many things, and may had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in [their] families, and closets, it is nothing but [God’s] mere pleasure that [kept] them from being swallowed up in everlasting destruction” (Edward 108). Even though an prestigious church member respects and have an all love towards God, there is no confirmation that one can be truly safe from His wrath. Edward’s sermon brought on, and is repeated of, that people should be aware of their situation in the eyes of God, with metaphors, and a literal sense, the dangers a person could face, and only to be saved through an Irresistable Grace, a slight opening in which one could be saved from their damnation, by denying the call of their true nature. The warning of Backsliding inside the sermon comes from the his own belief that no one is perfectly safe from God, for there is the chance backing away from their beliefs, tempted to disobey, or fall out of place, because in the eyes of Jonathan Edwards, it is but everlasting wrath to everyone.

How do human beings talk about God in the face of poverty and suffering? This is the question the Book of Job raises for us. A moral and honorable man lives a prosperous, happy and fruitful life. As a wager between God and Satan on the issue of disinterested religion, they test to see if his faith and religion are actually disinterested. This leads to another question of whether human beings are capable of asserting their faith and talking about God in the face of suffering in a disinterested way. In his book “On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent” Gustavo Gutierrez makes the point that human beings, especially the poor, are capable of a disinterested faith and knowledge of God in the face of suffering. His application of liberation theology, way of talking about God, and interest in the poor allow Gutierrez to assert that human beings are capable of a disinterested religion in the face of poverty and suffering.

Protecting the rights and dignity of the poor and oppressed is the most important moral duty of the church.’ Critically evaluate this statement with reference to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King.

Another inevitable reaction that came to me when I was reading this text, was the thought of – Who am I? And most importantly – Who can I be that will embrace my identity, while encouraging the diversity of others? The few identities I do own now is that I am a young African American woman, who comes from a low income neighborhood, and who is not necessarily religious but spiritual. I do not think these specific traits changed from when I was younger, however I do think the external groups I associate with have matured through my morals and values. For example, I consider myself a Democratic and a Feminist – due to the experiences I have had and the knowledge I have gained. I

Everyone must accept God as their savior or they will go to hell. This is a very familiar message that is preached by Christian religious leaders in places of worship around the world. As simple as this message may seem, the way it is delivered to the people makes all the difference in either turning them into believers, or scaring them away from religion altogether.