Jonathan Edwards Persuasion

Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan minister, preached a sermon in 1741 titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” His sermon is about the punishments the evil people will receive after death. Edwards uses the emotion of fear through the power of his words along with many syntactic techniques to influence his listeners to turn to God and save their long term souls.

Edwards also instills fear into the reader by attacking popular notions or mindsets popular of the time. One example was using a bow and arrow as a comparison to an angry God (126). The bow and arrow was feared sign to the people since they lived in constant fear of being attacked by the Native American tribes still living in America during the time. Another mindset Edward attacks was religion itself. He says “keep up a form of religion in your families and closets…but nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction (126). In this quote he was claiming that God did not care about the people’s religions and that religion would not save them from God’s wrath. This is an example of how Edwards seeks to psychologically scar his readers. He wanted to terrorize his listeners to make them listen to his lesson. When people are afraid, they tend to listen more, which is what Edwards was trying to achieve.

How did Jonathan Edwards use of Rhetorical techniques might have influenced society ? Jonathan Edwards use of rhetorical techniques influenced society emotionally with fear and guilt. By telling the audience of their sinful ways and how the micnificent power of God increases as everyday passes as your guilt constantly increases, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath . Jonathan also puts a large number of details pertaining to the the wrath of God. An example would be “The Wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present they increase more and more , and rise higher and higher , til an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped , and the more rapid and mighty is its course..”. He uses these details to scare

This way, we will believe that we will always stay with our loved ones that continue to live on. And if we did the good things we were meant to do, we would be given the right to permanently live in that infinite state. Just like that, we have a great thing to look up to and have no reason to fear it. However, the Puritans have come to believe that the good things you were meant to do won’t do you any good, because God’s will is random and unpredictable. It seems unfair to anybody, and makes death more scary than it should be. Without being able to tell if you will go to Heaven or Hell, people then and there would be scared because the outcome is unknown. They can only gamble with God, hoping that they get the better outcome. He gave them the idea that their God was angry with them and if they did not convert to Puritanism there would be no escaping hell or God's wrath. Throughout this long sermon there are numerous instances in which Edwards describes God as merciless or when he explains that death is coming and no matter what one does, hell is inevitable. Jonathan Edwards's most effective technique was by far his use of implanting fear into his audience's mind. Edwards says That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time is not

“As we explore persuasion, we can divide the persuasive communication into three parts: the communicator, the message, and the audience. First, we will deal with what characteristics of persuaders make people more likely to be persuaded. Next, we will think about characteristics of the message that lead people to change. Finally, we will explore what characteristics of the audience can lead them to be persuaded.” (Feenstra, 2011, p. 88) For your assignment this week, provide an in-depth analysis of the three parts of persuasion. Please reference the bullet points below to complete your assignment.

Jonathan Edwards was a preacher who was invited to Enfield, Connecticut to speak to the churches congregation. The leaders of the church saw him as a profound speaker of God and wanted their congregation to get back in line and stop straying away from their roots of Puritanism. Edwards believed in following God and the Puritan religion which made him the perfect candidate to speak to the people. By using ethos, pathos, and logos he instilled fear into the congregation to persuade them to change their ways and follow in God’s path.

Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was a persuasive speech during the Great Awakening. His sermons persuaded people to convert to the church immediately to avoid damnation of a wrathful God. Fearful of Hell, Edwards managed to save the Puritan church and those who strayed

Jonathan Edwards sermons were built on what he called he called the ten “considerations” “Jonathan Edwards 1740” “ www.rts.edu/sharedresources/documents/global/Edwards” They are as follows, God may cast wicked men into hell at any given moment. 2 The wicked deserve to be cast into hell. Devine justice does not prevent God from destroying the wicked at any moment. 3 The wicked at this moment suffer under Gods condemnation to hell. 4 The wicked-on earth at this moment suffer samples of torments of hell. 5 At any moment God shall permit Satan stands ready to fall upon the wicked and seize them as his own. 6 If it were not for Gods restraint the souls of the wicked would flame into hell. 7 Simply because they are not visible means of death before them at any given moment, the wicked should not feel secure. 8 Simply because it is natural to care for oneself or to think that others may care for them, men should not think themselves safe from Gods wrath. 9 All that wicked men do to save themselves from hells pains shall afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ. 10 God has never promised to save us from hell, except for those contained in Christ through the covenant

Jonathan Edwards emphasized the importance and power of immediate, personal religious experience. His techniques weren’t that impressive. He read his sermons in a nice and even voice, but with great conviction. He rejected shouting and theatrical antics. Attracting us with the power of truth and his desperate need for God seemed to be his goal. The way he preached in a manner that didn’t make up what he was saying, but as if he was giving you a deep explanation of events in his life where god help and in inspired him. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is the sermon Edwards preached that day in Enfield, Connecticut. It combined deep imagery of Hell and its connection of the world and citations of the scripture. When he began I had a smile on face because I was so happy. “All that wicked men may do to save themselves from Hell's pains shall afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ.” Is one of the quotes from the sermon. It was so powerful and meaningful. Edwards spoke a little afterwards and said “His aim was to teach us about the horrors of hell, the dangers of sin and the terrors of being lost.” He described the position of those who do not follow path of Christ to receive forgiveness. The imagery and language of his sermon awakened audience to the horrific reality that he believed awaited them should they continue life without a commitment to Christ. Many people didn’t like the way he did his sermon so peaceful and heartfelt. People weren’t use to the way he preached, they we’re use to the “show” more than the

A determinate of how effective a piece is can be recognized by how the piece affects the intended audience in the long run. In the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr, both authors use several different effective rhetorical methods to convey their messages to the audience. Edwards (one of the best speakers in his time) and King (one of the most influential Civil Rights activists) both use these methods in an effective way. King and Edwards both use different methods to convey their messages, but it is important to analyze what one is the most effective on the intended audience. You must analyze how Edwards uses direct addressing

To gather an audience in the first place, Edwards had substantial authority in Puritan society as the minister and thus the closest person to God. In New England, the main form of government was a theocracy so clearly anyone of an elevated religious status would be seen as not only an important connection to God, but also a government official with legal authority. With so much power, it was a given that Puritans would eagerly absorb Edwards’ sermons and be persuaded by his claims that God would drop nonbelievers into Hell like hot potatoes. Ethos allows Edwards message to be spread to a larger audience and give credibility to his

They both used figurative language a lot in their documents expressing their feelings about their opinions.” So that, thus it is that a 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, 46). That is just the first sentence in Jonathan Edwards writing showing how he believes how God see’s man in the beginning.

Edwards’ work was so effective because of its use of conscious and subconscious, verbal, emotional, and sensuous appeal (Cady). The emotional power throughout the sermon is created by the sheer amount of rich and versatile imagery (Cady). This original imagery was a work of art that created a truly poetic and artistic feeling (Cady). There are countless examples of imagery in Edwards’ sermon with the goal of persuading the audience to convert. To sum up, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” God has full control over and you are merely a little bug to him that can be dropped or squashed at any second (Cady). The goal of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was to stir with the readers emotions and to stimulate their soul, but to also reveal the purity within them (Cady). This sermon left a permanent mark on people, which either had people questioning their own faith, or giving them the will to convert immediately. Each and every word written in his sermon can be traced back to his personality, which had a major impact on his writing. Edwards’ polemicist personality made it easy for him to criticize the reader with crushing logic (Cady). He would face his fears and would not run away from his problems, and took what was thrown at him (Cady). This shows that Edwards truly believed in the message behind his sermon, and he

Jonathan Edwards shows good persuasive technique by: building an arguments to persuade his audience, that they need to live a more devout life by speaking, using imagery in sentences to paint striking pictures into people's minds, and by using excellent word choice in his speech to the general audience. Jonathan Edwards demonstrates his persuasive technique by speaking,  he directly addresses the problem of sinners. His speaking was pertained to sinners whom believe on a day to day basis that god or “ The Wrath Of God”cannot and will not overpower them. His focus is to change the people's mindset on this because when god is mad he can have a strong vengeance for consistent sinners whom are consecutively giving God’s wrath more and more things to feed off of and more reason to attack with their sins and guilt but by the mere grace of God’s right mind he stays content,  but if it was to happen the sinners would not dare be able to go against a

The first essential of persuasion involves the structure of the argument being posed by one who is trying to provoke others to action. In order to convince someone of a new argument, idea or moral, one must use the proper methods: logos, ethos and pathos. According to Hauser, “The method