Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards’s purpose in delivering the sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is to warn his congregation in particular, and presumably, by extension, his nation as a whole, that they...

In his sermon, Jonathan Edwards uses simple, everyday images to impress on listeners the severe and ever-present danger of falling into hellfire. In one potent metaphor, he describes the peril as...

In this sermon given during the Great Awakening, Edwards employs a stern tone combined with vivid imagery to shock his congregation into repenting of their sinful lives and instead choosing to...

In this sermon, Edwards combines a condemning tone with some pretty vivid figurative language to deliver a message that would shock his audience into turning from sin and accepting God's grace....

As George Lakoff explains in his "Why It's Difficult to Replace the Fiscal Cliff Metaphor," geographic metaphors are among the most powerful, and Jonathan Edwards uses these abundantly in "Sinners...

Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," presents God as loving but wrathful, omnipotent and infinite. Edwards spends quite a bit of time developing the idea that...

Alliteration is the repetition of the sounds at the beginning of words. It is frequently used to add weight and strength to certain words and emphasize thoughts and feelings. The use of repeated...

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is Johanthan Edwards's most famous sermon delivered in a Puritan effort to awaken and persuade those in the congregation who had not been "born again"; that...

Edwards gave this sermon to his congregation in Enfield, CT, in 1741, during what is known as The Great Awakening in American religion, a period in which leaders of the church were hoping to...

There are several memorable images in Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" which emphasize the vital nature of his message and the immediacy of the danger. The best-known and...

Jonathan Edwards wrote and delivered his famous sermon during the Enlightenment period. Scientifically this was a great period. Lots of great scientific minds were adding a large amount of...

The primary image that Jonathan Edwards utilizes is that of walking along a steep path and slipping or sliding off the slope. This image is mentioned in the Bible, as he notes: "Their foot shall...

Hyperbole, or exageration, as he is angry and trying to depict an image of the nature of man which is basically evil, and worthy of punishment and pain. He also uses hyperbole to actively describe...

A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as. It is similar to a metaphor, but similes are often considered somewhat less powerful than metaphors. This particular...

In keeping with his strident Calvinism, Jonathan Edwards, in his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” wants to make sure that his audience knows that in the overall scheme of...

Using a metaphor, Edwards describes God's enemies in the following way: "They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames." In...

A bow and arrow is not a particularly compelling image for a modern audience, many of whom may never have seen, let alone used one. For a New England congregation in the middle of the eighteenth...

In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards strives to effect a profound transformation in his listeners' hearts. He wants them to realize, before it's too late, that they are sinful...

Personification is the attribution of human qualities or traits to something that is not human. Edwards actually uses a great deal of figurative language to compel his audience to heed his warnings...

Another example of hyperbole (or exaggeration in the service of truth) is as follows: "What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the...

Having laid out in vivid imagery the danger of hellfire every person faces at every moment if they do not repent and turn to Christ, Edwards ends on a note of hope and urgency. In the penultimate...

Edwards views God as the puppet master who has a grand plan for humanity. He believes that any moment, on a whim, God may destroy us. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards uses...

The entire sermon is structured to appeal to the emotions of the listeners through vivid descriptions of the horrendous fate awaiting sinful human beings, which Edwards explains includes everyone...

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was a sermon delivered in 1741 by Jonathan Edwards, a theologian of the Congregationalist Protestant sect. The sermon was initially delivered in Massachusetts...

One of the most effective high-pressure sales techniques is the insistence that this offer is only open today. If you do not take advantage of the unique opportunity right now, it will disappear...

Jonathan Edwards had been steeped in the Calvinist theology of the Puritans from an early age. As time went on, however, it became clear to him, as for many brought up in the same tradition, that...

In his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," the Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards, preaches a fire and brimstone sermon in order to frighten the congregation into being more righteous....

Edwards's sermon is filled with dramatic and persuasive diction designed to motivate his listeners to trust in Christ. Many of these passages are metaphors or allegories that elucidate the...

In this sermon, Edwards likens sinners to spiders and to other types of insects: "That God holds you over the Pit of Hell, as one holds a Spider or some loathsome Insect." In addition, Edwards...

Jonathan Edwards's sermon delivered at Enfield, Connecticut, in 1741 utilizes many time-honored rhetorical techniques as well as figurative language. The minister begins his sermon with the use of...

In Genesis 19:17, the angels give Lot the following advice: Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. It is to...

I know it is a bit on the simplistic side, but I think the title sets forth Edwards' purpose in a fairly succinct and direct manner. The idea that at this particular moment, the force of the...

In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Jonathan Edwards's central thesis is threefold: all sinners deserve hell, which is their natural environment; it is only through the grace of God that...

Parallelism is used in “Sinners of an Angry God” primarily as a means of driving home the sermon's main point: that God can, and will, consign to Hell anyone he so chooses at any time. The repeated...

Fear plays a very strong role in Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Even the title is emotional, as anger--especially in a powerful figure such as a deity--tends to evoke fear....

According to Jonathan Edwards in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” the only thing that keeps sinners out of hell is God’s mercy. All sinners (that is, all people) richly deserve...

As other educators mention, there are various versions of this sermon in print, and publishers choose to break paragraphs differently—or to publish only sections of this famous sermon. Here are a...

Near the end of his sermon, Edwards says, And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud...

Jonathan Edwards wants his congregation to respond to the sermon in two ways. First they must awake and realize the terrible danger that may befall them at any moment. Then they must take refuge in...

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is one of the most famous sermons ever. It was highly provocative in 1741, a highlight in the First Great Awakening movement. Its effectiveness as rhetoric...

Beginning with the words "and now you have an extraordinary opportunity..." Edwards indeed shifts the focus from impressing upon his audience the likelihood of their eternal condemnation to what he...

God’s wrath is a central focus of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The word is used about fifty times in the sermon. In a nutshell, the sermon is about how God is really angry at the...

Calvinist minister Jonathan Edwards's "fire and brimstone" sermon sent many of his congregation running from the church in terror as they imagined the heat of hell's torments along with Edwards's...

A fire and brimstone preacher, Jonathan Edwards embodies the sanctimonious Puritan preacher who counts himself among the "elect." In his sermon, he essays to awaken and persuade those people in...

The healthy strong members of the town foolishly believe that they are kept out of hell by the good State of your bodily Constitution, your Care of your own Life, and the Means you use for your...

Edwards' syntax is, to be frank, overwhelming. Rather than develop sentences that are simple to understand, especially for people who are only listening to him and cannot see his text in front of...

Healthy, strong members of the congregation believe that their own health, their own efforts, and their own good behavior keeps them out of hell. As Edwards puts it, such worshippers believe their...

As a highly regarded theologian and preacher, a sermon Jonathan Edwards would deliver would have automatic ethos to his audience in colonial New England. "Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God" is...

Jonathan Edwards gave his "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" sermon because he felt a great burden to see unsaved persons turn to Christ, which he believed was the only way to God and eternal...

The main theme of this sermon by Jonathan Edwards is that all sinners will be judged by a God who will not hesitate to cast them into the depths of hell, to endure a more painful and dreadful...