from Sinners in the Handsof an Angry GodSermon by Jonathan Edwards

DO NOW: Read the intro on Edwards.

Analyze the idea that religion is to be

rooted in emotion, not thought. Why?

Edwards’s sermons appeal to the

emotional parts of the congregation. It is

hard to explain religion without emotion.

What keeps you IN LINE?

A sense of morality probably keeps you from cheating on a test.

In other words, you know cheating is wrong.

What keeps you IN LINE?

But there are other reasons for behaving morally.

Some people are anxious to please.

Others fear the consequences of breaking the rules.

Jonathan Edwards uses fear to get his point across in the sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Persuasion

Puritan Jonathan Edwards delivered powerfully persuasive sermons.

Persuasion

One of Edwards used biblical allusions— references to figures, events, or places in the Bible that he assumed his congregation would recognize.

• Define sermon: a form of religious persuasion in which the speaker urges listeners to behave in a more spiritual and moral fashion. Shaped by purpose, audience, context.

• fear, which taps into a fear of losing one’s safety or security

Emotional appeals are messages designed to persuade an audience by creating strong feelings.

They often include sensory language to create vivid imagery and loaded words to create these types of feelings:

• pity, which draws on a sympathy or compassion for others

• guilt, which relies on one’s sense of ethics or morality

Analyze Emotional Appeals

As you read, use a chart like the one below to record examples of language that appeals to the emotions.

“arrows of death fly unseen”

Examples Emotional Appeals

appeals to fear by creating anxiety, unease

Is fear the best way to convince someone to behave the right way? How else might

you convince?• Look at the painting on pg. 121 and analyze.

As you read the first page think about what the congregation might be thinking at this moment. What emotions or thoughts are going through their heads as Edwards paints the picture of hell and a very angry God

“We are insects or worms to God?” “I don’t want to go

to hell.” “Is God angry with me?” “Which people in the

congregation is God angry with?”

Details from the Sermon

• God is more angry with those in the congregation than those in hell, since the living have a chance to change and redeem themselves

Imagery – God’s Punishment• “men walk over the pit of

hell on a rotten covering”• “bow of God’s great wrath is

bent,” • “spider held over the fire,

tortured and dangled”

Edwards’s God• angry and fickle• only God’s pleasure

keeps some sinners from immediate doom

• God abhors sinners• Humans are as worthless

as worms compared to God

Appeal to Fear• “made drunk with your

blood” – painful death• “swallowed up in everlasting

destruction” – heal as a hungry beast,

• “bottomless pit” • “everlasting wrath” • “merciless vengeance”

What is the purpose of this sermon? What

happens to those that are born again (lines 38-

49)? • Teaches people to repent and turn their life back to morality and religion•“raised from being dead in sin”•“state of life and light” for those redeemed

Is morality enough to save a person from judgment, according to Edwards? Why or why not?

• line 90 – “no matter how moral or strict, sober and religious” you are, if you haven’t been born again it doesn’t matter

Look at the image on pg. 123. How is the burning of Babylon relevant to Edwards’ warning to his listeners?

• Babylon symbolized immoral living and disregard for God, fire sent by God and angels surprised the sinners

Jesus will save those that repent; however, he reveals it at the end so

his audience feels desperate. Christ can cleanse the sins of the

impure and invite them to heaven.

• Who is Edwards alluding to when he refers to the Mediator? Why doesn’t he explain (until the end) how the Mediator can save them?

Is Edwards’ sermon effective and convincing? How do you think they

audience might have felt after hearing this? What might they have done?

• According to Edwards, humans are in constant threat of being snatched out of life and cast down to hell at any moment

Why do you think Edwards felt it was necessary to terrify his

Puritan audience into action?• They have become

complacent and lazy in their religion. Need to be awakened to morality.

• How would you describe Edwards’ view of God, Christ, and humanity? Site examples.

• Do you think that Edwards’ sermon resulted in improving the morality of his congregation? Why or why not?

• People died at a much younger age. The awareness of the fragility of life made a bigger impact on these people. They were used to uncertainty and death.