Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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...

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...

Tone can be defined as the author or speaker's attitude toward a subject or an audience, and the choice of words generally indicates the tone of the piece. Jonathan Edwards's tone is unapologetic...

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 first and most apparent way in which Jonathan Edwards's style contributes to the persuasiveness of his sermon is the sheer force of his thunderous rhetoric. This use of pathos is continual and...

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...

Towards the end of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” there is a notable shift in tone from Jonathan Edwards. Having spent the rest of the sermon scaring his listeners to death with threats of...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

There is a notable shift in tone during the last three paragraphs of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” For most of the sermon, Edwards unleashes a veritable hailstorm of hellfire and...

Edwards defines human "wickedness" as a constant threat to all human beings. This condition is what invokes God's anger and is what Edwards sees as the fundamental threat in being in the world....

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards is considered one of the most important works growing out of a movement called the Great Awakening, a strongly Calvinist movement that...

Rhetorical devices are elements that an author or speaker will use to persuade his or her audience. The person delivering the message should, ideally, use logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade an...

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....

"The wrath of God is like great waters" metaphorically depicts God's anger towards humans as rising higher, much as water held back by a damn does. Nothing humans are doing lessens God's fury at...

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...

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...

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...

Edwards vividly illustrates the title of his sermon by describing man's dire state of being dangled over a fiery pit. However, it is not simply this image of man's precarious position that would...

"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...

"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...

Jonathan Edwards uses the spider's web image as a way of driving home the message that his audience is always just dangling above the fiery pits of hell and that one quick move by God will be...

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...

Edwards wanted his sermon to have a powerful effect; not just on his immediate audience, his congregation, but on everyone throughout the American colonies. He wanted his words to enter into the...

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....

If I were an orthodox Puritan, the sermon, which went on for hours, would both unsettle me and deepen my faith. An orthodox believer would worry that he/she might not be of the "elect" and...

According to Jonathan Edwards, sinners must come to Christ with humble hearts and ask for Christ's forgiveness in order to be spared God's wrath. Only those people who have found Christ's salvation...

In the sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards admonishes his audience to turn to God before they are damned to Hell because of their own inherent wicked nature. Edwards spends a great...