Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is known as the climax of The Great Awakening, which was the biggest religious movement in history. In 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, to his church, which left his listeners crying and even contemplating suicide. On the surface, “Sinners” has basic religious meaning but, deeper down, he is talking about more than just a religious conversion. Edward’s message to his audience was that there is a wrathful God who will punish all who have not had a change of heart. He portrays this through imagery, repetition, and figurative language.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God transforms how the congregation sees their relationship with God. Edwardss purpose is to show the sinners an opportunity to obtain salvation (104). He adopts a cynical tone in order to save the otherwise damned and helpless souls (104).Edwards immediately starts his sermon by evoking fear and solicitousness into the congregation. He achieves this by appealing to ethos, presenting God and himself as an authority figure. Edwardss purpose by doing this is to help the sinners in the congregation come to realization that they are held in the hand of God (102) and it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds them

It is 1741. The Enlightenment is spreading worldwide. The puritan people are leaving God. Johnathan Edwards gives a sermon on July 8th , 1741, trying to convince his fellow Puritan people to come back to God. He is going to try and accomplish this by giving his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God '.

In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Jonathan Edwards persuades his audience by using rhetorical strategies and quotes from the Bible to validate the point he is attempting to convey (Belasco and Johnson 347). Edwards wants the readers to be persuaded with repetition of the different phrasings of “wicked Israelites” and to be impressed by the sophisticated tone within the passage (Belasco and Johnson 347). Edwards is also attempting to persuade and impress through his use of hasty generalization such as, “As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall; he can’t foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once, without warning.” (Belasco and Johnson 347). Pathos is

The creative usage of pathos in Edwards works builds a faith in parishioners like no other. The audience for this sermon was persuaded through expressive thoughts translated onto paper: “but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” -Edwards (pg. 103). The parishioners emotions are grasped because it states that most of the things that they do can ultimately be susceptible to sin. The fact that everything in the eyes of an angry God can be sinful and most parishioners realize that they sin more than they think they do.

In the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards delivers his ideas about the God’s rage and human sinfulness to his audience by using

A picture is worth a thousand words. In “Sinners of an Angry God”, Jonathan Edwards captures an image of hell in the Puritan’s mind. Creating a sense of fear during the Great Awakening, Edwards urges the parishioners to accept God as their Savior and avoid sinful behavior. Edwards passionately tries to persuade the Puritans to realize their eternal danger of sin by using fiery diction that creates a fear of hell, and dramatizing human weakness through a primal human fear. Edwards begins his sermon with the use of imagery to create for the audience an image of hell as “someone’s foot sliding” and a “fiery oven”.

Is it unprejudiced that the fate of one’s eternity is either acknowledged or condemned determining one’s spiritual credence? Many chose to not fear Hell while maintaining confidence in the power of avoiding spiritual damnation. Jonathan Edwards illustrates a horrifying image for the disobedient and non-believers of God’s wrath in the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” While fear was inculcated in to the soul, the lack of security was obvious among citizens leaving minimal alternatives to deter from Christ. To sway citizens toward the Puritan way of life, Edwards uses examples of the wickedness of Hell to instill fear among those whom choose to conduct life in an agnostic behavior.

Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan edwards’s Sinners in the hand of an angry god: jeremiad Jonathan edwards, is known as one of the most important religious figures of the great awakening, edwards became known for his zealous sermon “sinners at the hand of an angry god”. During his sermon he implies that if his congregation does not repent to christ they are in “danger of great wrath and infinite misery”. Throughout this sermon edwards uses literary devices such as strong diction, powerful syntax and juxtaposition to save his congregation from eternal damnation. Throughout Edwards’s sermon the use of turgid diction is exceedingly prevalent.

In “sinners in the hands of an angry God”, Jonathan Edwards uses different types of literary techniques, such as, imagery, metaphor, similes, repetition, and rhetorical questions to emphasize his point. His point is to scare the people and make them want to repent, which is the theme of the sermon. In the sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry god,” Edwards uses different types of

Figurative language can be a compelling factor in literary works ranging from romantic poetry to political speeches. It forces the reader, or listener, to visualize and understand what the author is trying to say. Jonathan Edwards utilized this writing technique in his powerful sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards used imagery, metaphors, and personification to express his differentiating attitudes towards both sinners and God which consisted of complete disgust in regards to the former and unwavering respect for the latter. Jonathan Edwards relied more on the composition of his writing rather than the execution of it which is why figurative language is found so often in this sermon.

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.

Every time that Jonathan Edwards uses the appeal of pathos he uses it to evoke fear or to touch hearts into turning to

In crafting his highly effective sermon, Edwards utilizes his authority as a man of God and as an interpreter of the scriptures, a logical and direct organization of arguments, and violent imagery to convince his audience of the vengeance of God against man. Jonathan Edwards begins his sermon by quoting

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, wrote the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". In the sermon, Edwards argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path. The tone of the sermon is indignant and authoritative. Jonathan Edwards uses imagery, logos, and pathos to encourage the unconverted audience to turn to God in order to escape his wrath. Elemental imagery is used in the sermon to inspire fear in the audience.