Wrath Of God In The Great Awakening

Braylen Murth Mrs. Martin English 3 - Period 2 18 January 2023 Rhetoric in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” In 1741, in Connecticut, Johnathan Edwards delivered a powerful and terrifying, yet effective sermon directed at those that are “…out of Christ,” (87). Edwards’ sermon lasted nearly 6 hours and persisted the idea that God is all powerful and wrathful. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards uses repetition, imagery, and personification in order to scare and threaten people to conform to a life with Christ.

Next, Edwards personifies grace to, again, be a haven of safety and security. Edwards began his sermon by drawing comparison between the actions of his audience to the actions of the Israelites. While the Israelites often strayed from the direction of God, when condemnation fell upon them, the grace of God was offered as a means of recitation for their wrongdoings. In this situation, there is a torrential storm, but “under the means of grace” (209) there is a place of safety in which the audience can reside. Progressing through his sermon, Edwards drew upon his own scientific knowledge to further deepen his rhetorical expanse.

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 '.

Edwards also implements the rhetorical question, “who knows the power of Gods anger?” this presents the question of who will suffer the eternal dreadful misery. The answer of who is able to escape his anger is the ones who repent and are born again. The whole sermon is an entire repetitive restatement exemplifying Gods mighty wrath and our only chance of salvation is to be reborn, to develop a more personal intimate relationship with God. An only this way he pardons our sins and allows us to exult in

According to definition, reinvention is to invent again, remodel, or revive something that already exists. Between the 16th and 19th centuries Americans has embraced the idea of reinvention through their determination to change the religion and government of their time. Since the development of the American Colonies, Americans, or in this case colonist, embraced the character of reinvention and applied it to religion. They took the ideas from Martin Luther’s 1517

A religious movement, that made religion more popular, between 1730 - 1740. Jonathon Edwards and George Whitefield were the two who set off the great awakening. Jonathon Edwards helped set off the Great Awakening because of in his “powerful” sermons, he would call on colonists, also young people, to examine their lives. He would preach of god’s sweetness and beauty, but at the same time he would warn the listeners to pay attention to the bibles teachings. Otherwise, they would be sinners.

During the 1800s, a drastic religious revival swept across the United States. Much change and reform took place within the nation that shifted the character of American religion and culture. The beliefs and religious views of the 1800s helped influence the American identity today. Religion in the 1800s led to a revolution that had far-reaching effects on the U.S. that allowed it to assert its beliefs that have impacted society today.

An intense religious movement called, The Great Awakening, occurred in the 1730’s and 1740’s. This movement started in Colonial America, which originally came from a town named Northampton located in Massachusetts. Two preachers whose name’s are, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield both called Northampton home. Between these two men and their belief that the only thing that could save us humans, from the eternal fires of hell, was The Lord’s mercy. This had a massive affect on the colonists of America, due to there spiritual beliefs coming to end for the past century.

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.

One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.

This is a typical sermon of the Great Awakening, emphasizing the belief that Hell is a real place. Edwards hoped that the imagery and language of his sermon would awaken audiences to the horrific reality that he believed awaited them should they continue life without devotion to Christ. The author's tone throughout this selection is threatening, cautionary, condemning, unsympathetic, and strict. Jonathan Edwards uses threatening imagery in order to provoke change. The most famous image used is that of a "loathsome insect."

Edwards wanted his audience to mentally understand his attitude towards God, and for them to not underestimate God’s Powers. He painted a mental picture of an enraged and angry God when Edwards preached that “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm… and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you” (Paragraph 3). The black clouds and the description of the storm demonstrated God’s anger building up inside him waiting to unleash. God’s merciful act was the only reason he did not release his true wrath. There was no say when God will become completely fed up with his “sinner.”

The most important feature of a sermon is the application of a scripture text to the personal experience of the listener. Especially this last part is what reduced many of Edwards’s listeners to tears. In Edwards’s sermon the scripture text is “Their foot shall slide in due time”. This meant that eventually, all sinners would be punished by God, which could be at any time. Edwards speaks of a wrathfull God, a God who by Puritan standards is considered forgiving for not letting all of humanity fall into the deepest pits of hell.

The First and Second Great Awakening brought forth religious and social movements that impacted the American culture, appealing to the individual. Occurring in the early 18th century, the First Great Awakening was born within the 13 British Colonies with the Revolutionary War on the horizon. Decades later, the Second Great Awakening flourished under revivals and reforms, impacting the 19th century and years to follow. Despite being born out of different climates, The First and Second Great Awakening was characterized by the rejection of rational thinking for emotional preaching that reached the heart and soul, inspiring change in the negative perception of reason and positive perception of emotion and individualism in religion as well as the

The American Enlightenment and the Great Awakening were two very important motivators that changed the colonial society in America through religious beliefs, educational values, and the right to live one’s life according to each individual’s preference. The Great Awakening and the American Enlightenment movements were two events in history that signaled a grand distinction to the teachings among religious believers. New beliefs of how a person should worship in order to be considered in “God’s good graces” soon became an enormous discussion among colonists across the land. “Men of the cloth,” such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were well respected and closely followed when preaching about the love of God and damnation.