Transcript “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards

Do Now
Think about a time you tried to change
someone’s mind. Did you use a gentle
approach, scare tactics, or something in
between?
Have you ever persuaded someone to do
something or share your same belief?
How did you do it? What was the
outcome?
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God”
by Jonathan Edwards
Background Information
• Important role in the shaping
of The Great Awakening (17301755(
• Grandfather of Aaron Burr
• Was the fifth of eleven children
• He entered Yale College in
1716, at just under the age of
thirteen.
• He was a scholar-pastor his
rule being thirteen hours of
study a day.
The Great Awakening
In 1740 the well-known British evangelist
George Whitefield joined with Jonathan
Edwards to spark a religious revival that
swept New England. The Great
Awakening was a backlash against what
many believed was a church that had
grown far too lenient.
Edwards preached a return to Calvinism
which stressed predestination, the belief
that only a select few chosen by God would
be saved. No individual could earn grace
by doing good deeds, so everyone was
equally powerless to control their
own fate.
“Fire and Brimstone” tradition
Literary Elements
Metaphor – a figure of speech that
compares or equates two seemingly unlike
things. In contrast to a simile, a metaphor
implies the comparison instead of stating
it directly; hence there is no use of
connectives such as like or as.
Literary Elements
Imagery – The “word pictures” that writers
create to evoke an emotional response.
In creating effective images, writers use
sensory details.
Literary Elements
Repetition – The recurrence of sounds,
words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in a
speech or piece of writing.
Repetition increases the sense of unity in a
work and can call attention to particular
ideas.
Literary Elements
Sensory details – Evocative words or
phrases that appeal to one or more of the
five senses—sight, sound, smell, touch, or
taste.
Religion in the Colonies
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luCyq
zzV0MU
Analyze the Title
Sinners in the
Hands of an
Angry God
Analyze the Title
Sinners in the
Hands of an
Angry God
Analyze the Title
Sinners in the
Hands of an
Angry God
Analyze the Title
Sinners in the
Hands of an
Angry God
Cultural Note
As a Calvinist, Jonathan Edwards believed
that some people were favored by God and
others were not. This belief was
interpreted by some to mean that worldly
success was a sign of God’s favor. Many
believed that one way God rewarded
people for their repentance and pious
behavior was with earthly goods.
What is wrong with this assumption?
Visualize the Story
As you read, visualize the faces on the
congregation as they listen to the speech.
How might they react?
Could their outward reactions tell how they
are reacting inwardly?
Let’s Read!
Open to page 98
Exit Slip Sticky Note
• What distinctive characteristic do
you remember from todays
reading? What was the point of
Edwards' sermon?
“…indeed these things are nothing; if God
should withdraw his hand, they would
avail no more to keep you from falling,
than the thin air to hold up a person that is
suspended in it”
“…all your righteousness,
would have no more
influence to uphold you
and keep you out of hell,
than a spider’s web would
have to stop a falling rock.”
“The bow of God’s wrath is
bent, and the arrow made
ready on the string, and
justice bends the arrow at
your heart, and strains
the bow, and it is nothing
but the mere pleasure of
God, and that of an angry
God, without any promise
or obligation at all, that
keeps the arrow one
moment from being made
drunk with your blood.”
(p. 103)
Repetition
Edwards repeats the word nothing several
times. What effect does this have?
It emphasizes that there is nothing the
natural man can do to save himself.
Theme of the Selection?
It’s time to turn so
you don’t burn!
Literary Elements: Imagery
Edward’s sermon is filled with images meant
to frighten listeners into seeking God and
avoiding hell.
1. What frightening images occur in the
first two paragraphs? To what senses
do they appeal?
Images of a fiery pit and lake of
brimstone appeal to sight and
touch.
Literary Elements: Imagery
2. What sensory details does Edwards
include in the fourth paragraph? What
effect does the imagery have on the
reader?
The weight of sin will make the sinner
fall. The images frighten and
intimidate.
Literary Elements: Imagery
3. List five additional images in the sermon,
each of which appeals to a different sense.
• Bow and arrow of God’s wrath
• Souls born again
• The sinner held over hell like a spider
• A sinner who is like a venomous
serpent
• Hell as a great furnace
Interdisciplinary Activity: Art
Choose a passage from Edwards’s sermon
that contains vivid imagery, such as his
comparison of sinners to “the most hateful
and venomous serpent.” Sketch the
passage.