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Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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Johnathan Edwards was a Christian preacher and theologian. Edwards was born on October 5, 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut, and he received his master's degree from Yale in 1722. He apprenticed for his grandfather for two years before he became the sole preacher of the Northampton, Massachusetts parish in 1729. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). In his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Jonathan Edwards is able to successfully use metaphors to describe to those in his congregation the consequences of not following the path of God and provides sufficient reason for sinners to repent that are still effective to this day. …show more content…
He is able to effectively human powerlessness by stating that the human has as much chance of keeping out of hell "as a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock." It is a statement used to describe how useless good actions actually are. This metaphor is also used to describe God’s feelings towards humans. Humans are likened to spiders or “other loathsome insects” and therefore a feeling of anger is portrayed.
Throughout his sermon, Jonathan uses metaphors to instill fear of damnation in the listeners, and emphasize that their sins have been predetermined by God and are irredeemable. Edwards is able to describe human existence as sinners by stating “their feet shall slide, in due time." Like those who walk on a slippery slope, sinners are in grave peril of destruction and it is only through God's intervention that they do not

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