“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” AP Writing Prompt Analyze how Edwards’s distinctive style reveals his purpose to his audience. In Puritan America, colonists were constantly fearful of what would happen when they died.
Since death at a young age was altogether too common in those times, early Americans wanted to be sure that they were right with God. Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards understood these fears within his congregation and took advantage of them to make an argument for salvation, putting “the fear of God” in his audience through his distinctive speaking style.In his popular sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards utilized appeals to pathos vivid imagery, and a powerful closing argument to reach his audience. Edwards spoke of God in a way that appealed to pathos, or the emotions and feelings of the audience. He described God as “dreadfully provoked” and full of wrath and anger, holding sinners over the pits of Hell by a mere string.The Puritans, a very pious people who concerned themselves with religion more than almost anything else, would have felt guilty, uneasy, and nervous after hearing this.
By appealing to these powerful emotions, Edwards seemed to have tried to provoke this thought into the minds of his congregation: “God hates me, but He is giving me a chance at salvation…if I don’t take it, He will be even angrier at me than he already is. ” Edwards used very vivid and terrifying imagery to convey his message to his listeners.His description of hell would have surely frightened and disturbed his audience, to the point where they could not help but listen. Edwards wanted these descriptions of a place where “the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot” to motivate his congregation to accept God and turn away from their wicked ways.
Whereas many modern-day preachers would use a more cautious approach to communicating to the audience about the afterlife, Edwards was not afraid to approach this sensitive subject through his use of imagery.The use of vivid imagery of Hell and harsh descriptions of God would have put fear into the hearts of the Puritan people, but Edwards knew that appealing to fear would not be all it would take to convince his audience of his point. Edwards also added a hopeful message to his sermon – the message of Christ. Edwards included a sharp contrast between two members of the Trinity.
God was portrayed as angry, harsh, and frightening. On the contrary, Jesus was depicted as kind, merciful, and gentle.Edwards writes, “Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open. ” By including this picture, he shows his audience that, although they are sinners, Christ will accept and welcome into heaven those who repent.
Through his appeal to pathos, use of vivid imagery and description, and hopeful closing argument, Jonathan Edwards used his distinctive speaking style to deliver a sermon that would have made a great impact on his congregation. The most powerful and effective trait of his sermon was his combination of two emotions: fear and love.Through his appeal to these two powerful emotions, Edwards would have made his listeners clearly understand his message of the importance of salvation. The audience would have seen the fires of hell and felt fear, guilt, and dread. In addition, they also would have been able to imagine the gates of heaven with Jesus’ arms open wide waiting to accept them. This image of mercy, combined with impression of God’s wrath, would have been engraved into any Puritan’s mind for a long time to come.
