Cultural Identity Of The Enlightenment

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon written by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a theologian and philosopher in the British Colonies of America. He was raised as a puritan in Connecticut and grew up to be one of America’s most influential protestant revivalists of that time. He delivered many sermons, the most well-known being “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards gave this sermon on July 8, 1741 in Northampton, Massachusetts. The main purpose of this sermon was to convey to the audience the reality of hell, the need to change their wicked lives, and, ultimately, that they should fear the wrath of God. Edwards does this to motivate the audience to live their lives as perfectly as they can in order to not anger God and to avoid Hell.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is widely recognized as one of America’s most profound Theologians. Some might even consider him the master of Puritan revival, since he was the leader of the Great Awakening. During his time he was a devout Calvinist who had the power of single-handedly keeping the Puritan faith strong for over twenty-five years, by using vivid imagery to provoke his audience. Edward's dialect was exquisitely influential and yet wielded with class and ease. This essay argues that Edwards was a prestigious theologian in his time that helped shape modern religious culture.

Jonathan Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is moving and powerful. His effectiveness as an eighteenth century New England religious leader is rooted in his expansive knowledge of the Bible and human nature, as well as a genuine desire to "awaken" and save as many souls as possible. This sermon, delivered in 1741, exhibits Edwards's skillful use of these tools to persuade his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs.

In 1775, during the time Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” was written the colonists wanted to gain independence from Great Britain. King George created unreasonable taxes, the colonists felt like they shouldn’t have to pay for it so they began to rebel. Jonathan Edwards’s gave his sermon “ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” during the 1740’s, also this when the outbreak of the Great Awakening took place and a religious revival swept the colonies and sparked conversions. In Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” and Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, both authors use tone, imagery, and diction to reevaluate their stance on their current situations.

The Enlightenment period was an extremely impactful revolution which caused changes in societies around the world. It began in 1651, people across the country took a stand against their unfair rights. In order to have a peaceful society, everyone must be treated with equality which can only occur if there is a fair government system in place. If people have to fight and kill to have their natural rights granted, something has to be done about it. The enlightenment period encouraged the people to share their ideas when before they felt they had no say. When the people come together to fight for something they believe in many good and bad outcomes can take place. This time period led to many changes that have drastic effects on history. As people joined multiple documents were created showing the impact of this time period. A couple of these influential documents was the English Bill of Rights, U.S constitution, and the Haitian Constitution.

During the Revolutionary War, writers and orators publicly revealed their thoughts on how to respond to Britain’s further subjugation of the American colonies. After a futile hope for reconciliation and failed petitions to the British government, several patriots, such as Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry, called for the colonists to take up arms against the British. Through Paine’s Common Sense and Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention”, they displayed an adamant message for the colonies to fight immediately. Both used the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, and logos within their respective works, and their various applications to the three elements allowed for their arguments to reach all ears and influence the majority of the population towards the fight for independence.

The decades surged by and thoughts other than religion began to crowd the minds of the American people. The smoldering ideas of independence, enlightenment, and innovation elicited a new mentality in America. Puritan ideals were not held as high, for other religious sects had taken their place. The stringencies of the Puritan lifestyle wafted away as America grew in its diversity, but the Puritan mindset was rooted in the soil and could not be torn away. The words that John Winthrop had spoken on the Arabella were held at the base of the country, “For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”

There is a Mexican man that enters with the rest of his family. They eat beans, rice, flour tortillas and etc. The family does there every day routine, the dad wakes up at six- thirty to go to work in his truck. The children go to school and the mother stays at home. The things a person does in their all has a reason which goes all back to culture. Culture is what makes up everyone different from one another. Texts such as “What is Cultural Identity?”, “Where Worlds Collide” and “Two ways to Belong” supports that depending on one’s culture it effects one perspective on the world and others.

Throughout history, historical events have been relived and experienced by many in the present day through various scriptures and texts. From shocking testimonies, and inspirational speeches to intriguing journal entries, and questionable declarations, literature has allowed society, no matter the time, to go back and learn about past events that helped define the present society. Through these pieces of literature and their literary devices, readers are able to immerse themselves into the past by exposing themselves to historical figures’ persuasions and intentions through their creations. One of these pieces of literature that demonstrates these qualities is Patrick Henry’s Address to the Virginia Convention written in 1775. In Patrick Henry’s speech, he uses literary devices, such as diction, tone and syntax, to help the readers understand and relate to the author’s purpose in calling the Virginia Convention to action for one of the most historical moments in United Stated history, the American Revolution. The author uses these literary devices to persuade and encourage rebellious behavior in the audience, by creating a unifying, inspirational and rebellious tone to get them to support America’s impending fight for freedom, liberty and independence from British oppression.

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” is a quotation attributed to Patrick Henry, which he used to close his speech to Virginia Convention. During this time period, the 1770s, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson all made arguments in favor of separation of the American colonies from Great Britain; many of these appeals were persuasive for different reasons, whether that be logical, emotional, or pertaining to credibility and trust, which is to say logos, pathos, and ethos. First of all, we will examine Henry’s arguments during his speech at the Virginia Convention. Then, we will identify Paine’s appeals in a part of his essay, The Crisis n1. Lastly, we will evaluate Jefferson’s myriad of arguments in a part of his Autobiography.

Gore Vidal once said, “The Puritans left England for America not because they couldn’t be Puritans in their mother country, but because they were not allowed to force others to become Puritans; In the New World, of course, they could and did.” In1741, esteemed Puritan pastor, Jonathan Edwards, preached a sermon to his congregation, terrifying everyone who wasn’t truly Puritan into becoming one. Edwards’ purpose was to admonish non-Puritans and emphasizes the importance of the Puritans rededicating their life to their faith. Edwards uses diction, logos, and personification to terrorize the congregation into leading the “perfect Puritan life”.

b. Thesis – Jonathan Edwards’s sermon portrayed Puritans as sinners of their religion through the use of rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos.

Edmund S. Morgan’s writing depicts the Puritans in a respectful perspective. The Puritans’ beliefs are controversial purely due to the fact that they are strongly contrasting to shared beliefs today. Within the first concept Morgan introduces, the embodiment of Puritan ideology is expressed. Puritans claimed, “religion

Americans in the Enlightenment period strongly connected themselves with the classical age in terms of how they approached their art. The Enlightenment period lasted for about 150 years, from approximately 1700 -1850. Throughout this time period many artists took inspiration from the classical age which occurred in ancient Greece and Rome hundreds of years before. We can see examples of this in buildings like The White house and Monticello in America, and Kedleston Hall in England. These three buildings, though located in very different parts of the world, all have a number of aestheticly similar attributes.

In Bradstreet’s poem Upon the Burning of Our House she says, “Yet by His gift is made thine own; There’s wealth enough, I need no more.” (119-50) Her way of writing is gentle and her deep appreciation of God is made known, without having to be threatening in her poems. Even when all her possessions are gone, the grace of God is enough wealth for her. Unlike Bradstreet, Edward’s make it a point to embed fear with his sermons, and he uses it as leverage in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God he says, “You are ten thousand times more abominable in his eye, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.” (127) This give a clear indication that his way of delivering the message is aggressive and intense. A completely different way then how Bradstreet wrote in her poems, Edward strike at the fearful heart of the people and makes his point well known from the start.