Discourse on Religion: Nietzsche and Edwards Essay

Edwards instills fear in his congregation by threatening the wrath of God and what will happen if one does not omit their lives to Him. “So that thus it is, that natural men’ are held in the hand god over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it;” (102). Here Edwards uses sharp descriptions to show his congregation that any wrong move can put one in Hell, promoting the practice of religion, more specifically; his church. Edwards also writes and speaks very poetically in such a way that his sermons are delivered with an intense amount of imagery that it seems as if those in attendance are watching a movie. Comparing the earth to God’s hand and the mention of God’s wrath being a loaded bow that is ready to rain down on sinners at any moment, helps add the the fear and the image. Another way Edwards creates his atmosphere is by referring to the mass in front of him as ‘you’. When spoken to in such a personal manner one is more likely to be afraid or concerned about the subject as opposed to the sermon being delivered with a more general

Jonathan Edwards views mankind as doomed and lost. In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards claims that individuals are predetermined by predestination. He published this sermon in hopes of exposing the dangers of sin and the need for salvation. He claimed that sinners will go through a day of judgement by God and that sinners deserve to burn, but it is God’s hand who holds them over the fire, preventing them from falling

Edwards opens his sermon by expressing the idea that men are subject to the whims of God and that those who refuse to welcome God are held out of hell by nothing more than the simple pleasure and mercy of God’s hand. He appeals to the pathos of his listeners

Nietzsche is widely known as a critic of religion. In fact, he talks in depth about morality in regards to religion in his essays about the genealogy of morals. But the problem is not within religion itself or within morals. The problem is involved in the combination of the two to create society’s understanding of morality through a very religious lens. In fact, Nietzsche has criticism for almost any set of morals constructed by a group of individuals and meant to be applied to society as a whole. True morality, according to Nietzsche, requires a separation from these group dynamic views of morality- or at least a sincere look into where they originated and why they persist- and a movement towards a more introverted, and intrinsically personalized understanding of what morals mean in spite of the fact that “the normative force to which every member of society is exposed, in the form of obligations, codes of behavior, and other moral rules and guidelines, is disproportionally high” (Korfmacher 6).

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

Nietzsche introduces the initial concepts of what is good to be determined by those who have benefitted from unegoistical

Edwards appeals to ethos by quoting a text from the bible at the beginning of his sermon. He uses outside “facts” from a Bible which is well known and studied by many of the Lin 5 people. Edwards also appeals to logos by basing his sermon on reality of God and the existence of hell. The only way to be saved from hell is to believe and have faith in God. Though he uses both logos and ethos, Edwards appeals to pathos the most. Throughout the sermon, he is constantly using figures of speech to describe consequences of hell to force the audience to be fearful.

Friedrich Nietzsche’s own skepticism symbolized the secular changes in contemporary Western civilization, in which he details mankind’s break away from faith into a new rule of chaos. In Book 5 of The Gay Science, Nietzsche establishes that “God is dead”, meaning that modern Europe has abandoned religion in favor of rationality and science (Nietzsche 279). From this death, the birth of a ‘new’ infinite blossoms in which the world is open to an unlimited amount of interpretations that do not rely on the solid foundations of faith in religion or science. However, in contrast to the other philosophers of his age such as Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Nietzsche deviates from the omniscient determinism of history towards a

In essence, it is clear that Edwards’ tone, imagery, and figurative language had a great impact on his Puritan audience. By using these three literary devices Edwards was able to appeal to their fear and pity. Throughout the text he uses very loaded language to prove his points and persuade the reader to follow God. All in all, Edwards believes that without God you are

Jonathan Edwards’s attention to the separation of the body from the soul combined with his efforts to account for the spirit of revivalism during the “Great Awakening” implicates the sublime as both a rhetorical tool and psychological experience that, in either case, foregrounds the relationship between an individual’s perception of the self and his or her relationship to a community. Comparing Edwards’s personal writing to his public writing , an exploration of the phenomenon of conversion is clearly developed. Sublime experiences represent potential moments for conversion to Christianity because such events are moments that define the self in absence

Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” persuades the unconverted Christians to rejoice with God and redeem themselves by juxtaposing threatening imagery and simile in his sermon.

In Edwards’ “Personal Narrative” a more laid back approach is being used to describe his relationship with God. Edwards’ narrative is much different from his powerful sermons like “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. We see throughout the narrative that Edwards’ had fallen astray from the ideals of christianity. He says, “But in process of time, my convictions and affections wore off; and I entirely lost all those affections and delights, and left off secret prayer, at least as to any constant performance of it; and returned like a dog to his vomit, and went on in ways of sin” (p. 335). In this, I find Edwards to be very truthful, however, I feel that he would not admit to just how many times he had fallen astray.

“As soon as a religion comes to dominate it has as its opponents all those who would have been its first disciples.” Nietzsche was one of the first modern philosophers to rebel against rationalism and when World War I came about, the revolution against religion truly became a legitimate statement. Friedrich Nietzsche strongly believed that many of those that practiced religion were led to the acceptance of slave morality. Religion had always played a fundamental role in society as it sets strict boundaries and standards of what is morally correct and incorrect. However, Nietzsche claims that, “Human nature is always driven by “ ‘the will to power’ ”, but religion will tell one otherwise, saying that one should forbid their bad desires. In Nietzsche’s

In Twilight of the Idols Nietzsche emphasizes that the Christian Church is a false idol. He dares to say, “..God to be an enemy of life..” and, “Life ends where the ‘kingdom of God’ begins..” because he believes that Christian morality is against life itself (Idols, 23). The reason for this is because Nietzsche believes that, “to have to fight against the instincts- this is the formula for decadence: so long as the life is ascendant, happiness equals instinct” which simply means that if one goes against instincts, or an intuitive way of carrying ones life, then as a consequence it will lead to the degeneration of society and intellect while if life is on the rise, happiness must be equivalent to following ones’ instinct (Idols, 15). Because of his belief it is understood that Nietzsche wants one to embrace their instincts. Nietzsche states that a life in which

Nietzsche begins his discussion of good and moral with an etymological assessment of the designations of “good” coined in various languages. He “found they all led back to the same conceptual transformation—that everywhere ‘noble,’