• Home Page
  • Jonathan Edwards Conversion Sermon Essay

Jonathan Edwards Conversion Sermon Essay

Improved Essays
Show More
“If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born…” When first hearing this quote some people might be intimidated, and others may think what they have done to deserve being talked to like this. However, back in the 18th century this sermon was presented to people such as yourself. This sermon was presented to a fairly large group of people on July 8th, 1741. The man that gave this speech was Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was a revivalist preacher that was very open and forthcoming with how he felt. The main focus of his sermon was to convert people to Christianity, by instilling fear into them. Although some people may agree with Edward’s methods of conversion, this analysis will show the corrupt side of this discourse.
Edwards often used Biblical quotes that were taken out of their original context. For example, “If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God’s spirit; and will wish that you had died and gone to Hell before …show more content…
It has the effect of driving panic into the viewers and using that panic and terror he attempted to convert them to Christianity. He chose to use a metaphor to form a comparison because he needed a very strong connection to move the onlookers more towards his goal of converting them to Christianity. He was comparing a great furnace of wrath to Hell. He is making an effort to say that if people do not do right in God’s eyes then they will be punished by being doomed to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God By Jonathan Edwards
    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God By Jonathan Edwards

    The tone takes on a more hopeful outlook at the end of Edwards’ sermon. The very last paragraph states, “Therefore let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the Wrath to come” where there lies a hopeful undertone that believers can find refuge in (Edwards 25). What exactly did Edwards want his audience to take from his sermon? He directly addresses different groups within the audience and states that they each have a chance for salvation (“Jonathan” Edwardsnotes). To young men and young women, “You especially have now an extraordinary Opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as it is with those Persons that spent away all the precious Days of Youth in Sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness” (Edwards 24).…

    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinner In The Hands Of An Angry God
    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinner In The Hands Of An Angry God

    Often in sermans ministers pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or moral fashion. Such is the case in “sinner in the hands of an angry god” by Jonathon Edwards where he illustrated that the moral of the story is “if sinners repent, they won’t face the wrath of god” Edward using an convincing tone and wanted to have an impact on his audience by appealing to their fears, pity and Varity. Edward had an impact on his puritan’s audience because of convincing tone, clear imagery and clear figurative language. Foremost Edward is trying to show his audience to be cautionary of after life and that god can easily destroy his sinners who have done wrong and did not repent. For example in the text the author stated “so that thus it is that natural me held in …..…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God
    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister during a religious reform period called the Great Awakening. At this time hundreds of men and women were being converted because of powerful sermons during that time. Edwards believed that religion should not only be based on reason but emotion should be a key role too. Edwards used rhetorical appeals in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, such as the ethical appeal, logical appeal, and emotional appeal to persuade unconverted members to become “born again”.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Analysis Essay
    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    Alongside that he has this undertone that God’s love is effervescent and he’s almighty forgiving love. At times it feels as if the whole sermon is an oxymoron. Without a doubt, he’s well aware of the senses he’s trying to intimidate and bring out. He’s doing what their religion follows, purifying the soul of impurities. Edwards, knowing the fear of Puritans, used this to add meaning to his sermons and he gave great depth to what he meant.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Death Fly Unseen Rhetorical Analysis
    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Death Fly Unseen Rhetorical Analysis

    Edward sets the mood and setting by creating fear and telling it how God wants it to be not how they want it to be. He uses them to make us better understand that it's God’s choice to either keep them alive or kill you off with a snap of his finger. The purpose was to get his point across for not converting. Saying a weak person like you is nothing to God.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Analysis
    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Analysis

    Fear is the key to subtly transmit your ideal, and this way the public listens and pays close attention. His use of fear is also stated in the metaphor where he associates Gods wrath as a bent bow with an arrow aiming towards your heart (Paragraph 6), this typifies Gods supremacy over sinners and how he can terminate anyone. This along other rhetorical devices and the constant repetition build up a big sense of dread, this fear is used by Edwards to instill what he believes is the key to salvation. His use of fear is justified according to his principles and considering what he…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Analysis Essay
    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    In the House of the Lord, a man appears to be walking down the aisle to arrive at the pulpit to serve as the connoisseur of the Bible. He wears a long black trench coat and sets down his notes on the podium. He stares out onto his followers and beings reading in a monotone voice. Although people should be uninterested in this man, he captures their attention. He entrances his audience.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Theme Of Pathos In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God
    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Theme Of Pathos In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    In the 1700s, during the Great Awakening hundreds of people were accepting Jesus Christ and becoming born again. During this time, pastors were working to increase this number and convert more and more people. One of these pastors was Jonathan Edwards, who gave intensely persuasive sermons. In one of Edwards’s most famous sermons "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he utilizes rhetorical appeals: pathos, to appeal to the congregation’s fear; logos, to appeal to congregation’s common sense and logic; and ethos to gain the congregation’s trust throughout his sermon to assist him in persuading the congregation to become born again. Through his fire and brimstone teachings, Edwards evokes an immense amount of fear in his listeners.…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Jonathan Edwards Sovereignty Of God
    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards Sovereignty Of God

    Jonathan Edwards struggled to fully accept and understand the sovereignty of God. “From my childhood up, my mind had been wont to be full of objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal life and rejecting whom he pleased” (399). He had a hard time understanding the idea of God choosing who went to hell while others entered heaven. During a regular day of studying he stumbled across 1 Timothy 1:17, a verse that led to a revelation in his life. This scripture would forever change his life, he had suddenly found this new sense of happiness through God.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Role Of Fear In Religion
    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Role Of Fear In Religion

    By showcasing the “wrath of Almighty God” and creating a sense of fear in the audience and making them gullible, Edwards takes the chance to reach his goal: converting non believers (Edwards 156). He proceeds to state, “And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open…” (Edwards 156). Due to the fear present in the audience, they see the forgiveness that “God” offers them. Fear provoked many to become gullible without realizing it,…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Ethos In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God
    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ethos In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan theologian who was a primary figure during the Great Awakening. Edwards delivered his fiery sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to his puritan congregation in 1741 using powerful images of heaven and hell and a sense of urgency to convince sinners to come to Christ. To achieve his desired purpose of urging sinners to receive God’s grace before it is too late, Edwards employs ethos, logos, and pathos. Edwards uses ethos to appeal to his congregation to convince them to turn from their wicked ways.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis: Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God
    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis: Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    The sermon that Johnathan Edwards delivered became one of his most famous teachings, because it embodied his entire system of belief. He titled it “Sinners in the Hands of an…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    The Puritans Fear In Jonathan Edwards Poem
    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Puritans Fear In Jonathan Edwards Poem

    Edwards also reveals his emotion through his sermon as he conveys an angry tone, “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.” (pg. 156) In this quotation, he utilizes an angry tone with the words “furnace”, “wrath” and “damned” and gave fear to the Puritans and made them to convert back to Puritanism.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Young Goodman Brown And Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Analysis
    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Young Goodman Brown And Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Analysis

    For example, he uses metaphor about the bow of God’s wrath being drawn and held in the hearts of sinners. This metaphor shows that God could show his anger, but his kindness saves the sinners. Edwards also compare the sinners to spiders and serpents to make them feel that they are just a little thing on the earth. The audiences were caught by Edwards promises of eternal damnation if they won 't take the right steps. The audiences lived on the fear of the power of the god, so he was able to keep his audiences to be…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    John Winthrop And Jonathan Edward's Sermon Analysis
    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages

    John Winthrop And Jonathan Edward's Sermon Analysis

    “‘He that believed no is condemned already.” So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is” (Edward 210). He has a lot of dramatic phrases that make people worry that not doing exactly as he says you would then be condemned from the start. Edward’s sermon takes place in an entirely different time setting of 174, the colonies had been long established. People were no longer strong believing puritans.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings