Jonathan Edward's Personal Narrative

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.

Respected Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards in his Sermon, “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God (1781), Elaborates on the negatives of being a repentant sinner. Edward’s goal is to inform people that sinning can be dangerous. He adopts a serious tone in order to establish a constant fear within Sinners and Non Sinners reading. Using the heavy caution within his readers let him establish a successful Sermon with the help of examples.

During the 1630’s, there was a group known as, the Puritans. The Puritans immigrated from England to America, for the sole purpose of religious freedom and their belief that the church of England needed reform. Puritan author’s, Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, conveyed their messages and beliefs in their writing . For these two authors, they were working around the same foundation, Puritanism, for the intended messages. Admittedly, there is a disconnection in belief between the two. Edward’s writings take Puritanism to the extreme whilst Bradstreet’s works show a more traditional view in the religion while staying true to it.

As many religious leaders before and after him, Edwards's source of inspiration and guidance is the Bible. His understanding of this cornerstone of New England society enables him to reinforce a persuasive dissertation with biblical quotes and passages; however, not all the quotes cited by

In the 1600’s the Puritans were the main religious group of that time period and they had very strong ideals on how religion and government should go together. Jonathan Edwards, who shared many of their ideals, preached a sermon called, “ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and it had a very big impact on the congregation. Nathaniel Hawthorne, although he was a writer in the 1800’s, he was fascinated with the Puritans and their lifestyles and wrote a short story called, “ The Minister’s Black Veil.” Both authors use specific details, tone, and imagery to convey their meaning and style, Edwards harsh and accusatory style was more effective than Hawthorne’s melancholy and mysterious style because Edwards helps the reader understand the effects sin can have in one’s life.

Jonathan Edwards, a Congregationalist minister in western Massachusetts, who was shocked at the dissipating religious spirit, believing that people were giving up to sinful pleasures. He worked against the secularization of the Enlightenment and focus on pushing the emotional side of religion by expressing the wonderful nature of Heaven and the horror of Hell, helping to renew intensity behind religion. This idea of Heaven and Hell was stated in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, intended to scare people into looking for salvation, with descriptions of people being held over a fire in Hell. This is expressive of the change of social norms in Puritan New England, where going to the Minister’s house as opposed to the Tavern was acceptable. This also shows the more individualized ideals people had, for they were presented with the option of achieving their own salvation and take responsibility for their lives, having the option of maintaining a personal connection with God. (ch 3 txtbk)

She also thanks God during situations that could seem like nothing to be thankful about like, “yet the Lord by his almighty power, preserved a number of us from death” (Rowlandson 10). Through both the narratives of the lives of Equiano and Rowlandson, the Puritan literature is influence by religious ideologies and philosophies.

It reflects on the Puritans’’ ideals and beliefs. Such as, they believed in salvation and that the fate of individual soul was predetermined by God. Also, that salvation was a private choice among God and the 'Elect'. Elects or Saints were the ones who were saved and the ones who weren't were 'wicked’.

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.

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 was born October 5th, 1703 in East Windsor Connecticut, he was the son of Timothy Edwards who was also a preacher. Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, philosopher, and a Protestant Theologian. Jonathan Edwards was known as the most important and one of the original philosophical theologians of all times. In my Prospectus paper, I will be discussing the sermons and the works of Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was a special kind of man, his words when spoke during his sermons and preaching struck complete fear straight into the hearts of his listeners. Jonathan Edwards when compared to other preachers of

The depiction of such different Gods between the two Puritan ministers stems from their overall goal in their writing. Taylor’s goal in writing is purely for the glory of God and his own expression of feelings towards Him. Edward Taylor’s works are too bright and cheerful for the Puritan conservatives at the time and do not serve for moral instruction as most literature should. In his work, “Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children,” he describes,

Hale, from Helstone, unlike citizens from Milton, has clearly intellectualized his feelings about god. During the time North and South was published, Charlotte Bronte responded to Mr. Hale’s religious doubt by saying that Elizabeth Gaskell’s, “emphasis on the Church of England and its clergy if natural enough in the daughter of a parsonage, is signifigant also because it shows she saw Mr. Hale’s as a particular kind of religious crisis, more especially since it was handled by an author she knew to be Unitarian,” (___,@#). Some, including Angus Easson, believe that Mr. Hale represents Elizabeth Gaskell’s father, who was a minister at the Unitarian church. “He questions the State's right to prescribe a man's belief or to control his conscience. Even more important is the particular example he cites amongst those two thousand ejected Presbyterians who followed conscience even in adversity and from whom in the eighteenth century the Unitarians evolved.” In fact, Easson goes on to say that Mr. Hale’s doubts can be related back to the words of Joseph Priestly, a “great formulator of Unitarian thought.” (Easson, 3). If it is true, then, that Gaskell is tying this doubt back to Unitarian thought developed by Priestly, Gaskell’s father, and Gaskell herself then it is clear that Mr. Hale has had the privilege to ebe able to philosophize greatly on the question of religion. Mr. Hale, not being a product of industrialization, questions organized religion while not

Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d'Arthur is a classic piece of literate that reveals the depths of mankind in numerous ways. Man is a complicated creature, greatly influenced by a variety of circumstances and often the choices made in those times mold man into who he or she will become. The lens for which one views beauty and goodness can be greatly affected by these experiences. As I have spent time reflecting on Mallory’s writing, it is apparent that he used several key themes to explain his views of man; those being identity, fate, love, family, and redemption. These themes parallel much of scripture and when paid attention to, can help one understand the truths of Scripture on their Christian journey.