Student Question
What effect does Rev. Jonathan Edwards have on his audience?
Quick answer:
Reverend Jonathan Edwards's sermons, particularly "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," had a profound effect on his audience, instilling fear that led many to cry, scream, and even flee the church. His powerful rhetoric, characterized by repetition, parallelism, and vivid imagery, emphasized human helplessness without God's grace. This approach heightened emotional responses, causing significant distress among listeners and demonstrating the intense impact of his fire-and-brimstone preaching style.
The highly-charged fire and brimstone sermon of Reverend Edwards strikes such fear into his audience that many of the women cried and screamed; also, there were a number of terrified listeners who actually fled from hearing more as they ran screaming out of the church.
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is Edwards's most famous sermon. It was so highly charged and had such a powerful effect that several times during this sermon, he had to stop and request that certain members of the congregation refrain from their shrieking, if they did not leave.
Much of the power of Edwards's sermon derives from his effective use of rhetorical devices such as the use of repetition and parallel constructions that seem to reach a disturbing and horrifying crescendo. For instance, Edwards repeats the word nothing in parallel phrases such as "nothing that you have ever done, nothing that you can do" in order to stress the belief that people cannot be saved by their actions; instead, they must have God's grace. An extremely effective parallel construction is exemplified in the beginning of Edwards's sermon as he uses frightening visual imagery:
The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them....
This use of parallelism, frightening images, and repetition is certainly effective in terrifying and emotionally moving Edwards's congregation.
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