Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Rhetorical Analysis

Imagine you are a Puritan, it is the Great Awakening, and one of the most well-known preachers of the time is telling you that there is a good chance you are going to hell. Without some serious skills in persuasion, this statement wouldn’t mean anything. Jonathan Edwards ' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" speech was extremely effective in persuading the Puritans to take their religious beliefs more seriously due to his use of many rhetorical devices such as: figures of speech, repetition and sound, syntax, and the triangle of rhetoric - ethos, pathos, and logos. The people were getting distracted by things other than religion

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

To begin, Jonathan Edwards got his message across to the congregation by his use of tone. Edwards used repetition throughout his sermon to express

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.

One example of how Edwards utilized ethos was when he said, “For ‘who knows the power of God’s anger?’” (43). This is an allusion to Psalm 90:11, and it gave Edwards excellent credibility by it being a verse from the Bible and him being a pastor. Edwards employed this allusion to tell the unconverted, or unsaved, members in his congregation that by not trusting in Christ, they were angering Him more and more. God could become so angry with them that He could take them out of this world and cast them into Hell, but by trusting in Christ one would escape the wrath of Hell and all of the anger that God once felt for them while theywere unsaved would vanish. Psalm 90:11 would have been very powerful to his audience because it is an allusion to a book of the Bible which everyone in his congregation would be familiar. Another example of ethos would be, “Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south…” (Edwards 44). This statement is an allusion to the Great Awakening, which was a time in history when everyone was becoming converted and trusting Christ. This allusion to the Great Awakening also provided Edwards with excellent dependability because his objective was to get all those who had not yet been born again to trust in Christ and become born again. Edwards was saying that people were becoming converted daily and were escaping the wrath of

Jonathan in his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (July 8, 1741), claims that the unconverted are hanging from the hands of God, and can be dropped off to the eternity of hell, his sermon is used to make the sinners be afraid and understand how the power of God is saving them, but it is only for his pleasure, unless if they return to Christianity. Edwards strengths his argument by using metaphors and imagery of a wrathful God to make the unconverted people afraid of being sinners and encourage them to have a relationship with Christ to be fully saved from falling to an eternity in the flames of hell. Edwards purpose is to start his sermon with such powerful use of visualization to provide fear to the sinners and give them a

Edwards was now in charge of taking his grandfather’s place, being the minister of the largest and wealthiest churches in the entire colony. As a minister, he held to the complementarian outlook of marriage and gender roles, along with all the Reformers and Puritans of his time. He published his first sermon in 1731 entitled God Glorified in the Work of Redemption, by the Greatness of Man’s Dependence upon Him, In the Whole of It. In this sermon, it is clear that Edwards is blaming New England’s incorrect morals on their assumptions of religious and moral self-sufficiency. In the lecture, he discussed many topics. The emphasis being on “God’s absolute sovereignty in the work of salvation: that while it behooved God to create man pure and without sin, it was of his good pleasure and mere and arbitrary grace for him to grant any person the faith necessary to incline him or her toward holiness, and that God might deny this grace without any disparagement to any of his character.” This sermon was Edward’s first public attack on Arminianism. This brought up controversial thoughts, but also helped Edwards in becoming a key figure in the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and

Often in sermons, minister pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or moral fashion. Such in the case in Jonathan Edwards, sinners in the hands of an angry god where he feels sinners should repent for the sins they committed. Edwards wanted to impact his audience by appealing to their fears, pity, and vanity. Edwards had an influential impact on his puritan because of his use of cautionary tone, complex imagery, and constructive figurative language.

Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. Jonathan Edwards was a renowned Puritan preacher. He is the author of a very known piece of rhetoric called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This sermon was given to persuade the people in America to either convert or become better religious people. To fully reach the audience’s emotions and thoughts Edwards uses multiple rhetorical devices. Imagery is commonly used throughout Edwards sermon. his extremely descriptive language portrays images of what Edwards is saying into the audience’s minds. Allusion references historical works of art, this work of art is known by his whole audience. Edwards strategically uses imagery and allusion to most effectively direct his sermon.

In the life changing sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edward Taylor uses many persuasive techniques to grab the attention of his congregation. By amplifying specific rhetorical devices Edwards intends to instill enough fear into his congregation for them to turn from their sinful ways and repent; He achieves this by repetition, imagery, and his use of hyperbole. An effective rhetorical device Edward Taylor uses is repetition; this allows him to deepen the personal effect his sermon has on his congregation. In his piece Edwards continually restates many phrases to keep the overall tone very clear and distinct.

Jonathan Edwards effectively uses causal, inductive, and analogical logos to persuade his congregation through reasoning and logic, in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in which he wants them to realize that their God is, in fact, angry with them. His use of logos is apparent early when Edwards tells the “reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment,” followed by “because” which is causal logos and appeals to the logical side and sets up his concern and his argument. (lines 10-11; italics mine) Continuing the use of “because” and causal reasoning as well as refuting his congregation's argument that God is merciful, Edwards states “it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, … he does not let loose his hand and cut

In the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, Edwards delivers an intense six hour speech in a very calm demeanor. The message he gives is so powerful that he is able to capture his audience's attention without showing any enthusiasm. Edwards uses powerful diction and pathos to scare his audience into becoming faithful puritans.

From 1734 to 1750 a religious revival called the Great Awakening swept through New England. Jonathan Edwards was an influential portion of this movement. By giving sermons and informing his congregations about the repercussions of their self-satisfaction, Edwards was considered to be America’s greatest religious thinker. On July 8, 1741, Edwards delivered his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In this sermon, Edwards uses repetition, imagery and pathos to convince his audience that if they did not turn to God, they would have to deal with his wrath.

Edwards was a Puritan reverends son, growing up with the Puritan beliefs. He matured into a reverend himself, but his beliefs were altered from Puritanism to Christianity. He tried to influence his congregation to convert to Christianity and was successful before being voted out of the church and sworn to silence.

Johnathan Edward preached a sermon call "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in Enfield, Connecticut on July 8, 1741. During this time period there was a great awakening in religion throughout America. It was a revival of the protestant Christians. In other words it strengthen the faith of many people in the North American colonies.