{"id":312,"date":"2021-04-21T12:07:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T12:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=312"},"modified":"2021-04-21T12:08:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T12:08:49","slug":"unpleasant-imagery-and-voice-in-jonathan-edwards-sermon-sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=312","title":{"rendered":"Unpleasant Imagery and Voice in Jonathan Edwards’ Sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jonathan Edwards was a man of deep religious conviction. His theological and philosophical opinions display in him a desire to offer the world controversy and a depth of insight uncommon at the time. This desire is particularly evident in his work, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God<\/em>. This text was originally presented as a sermon in 1741 to a congregation in Enfield, Connecticut. It is a very strong and powerful representation of God, and a frightful comparison of man against His supreme will; a response to the complacency of the church at the time, as many Christians had grown contented with tradition and forgotten the significance of their faith and the implications of remaining faithful. In this work, Edwards uses unpleasant imagery and voice to emphasize the idea of an all-powerful, vengeful God, by which he intends to instill reverent fear and repentance back into the Christian population to incite faithfulness in them once again. The introduction of his sermon lays the foundation for this aim, the application portion emphasizes it, and the conclusion solidifies it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards opens his sermon with an illustrative epigraph: \u201cTheir foot shall slide in due time\u201d (Edwards 326). This is an excerpt from Deuteronomy expressing God\u2019s anger toward the backsliding people of Israel, His right to take vengeance, and the prophetic word that it will happen soon. Edwards argues that this epigraph has certain connotations for the modern Christian which he further explains: First, he argues that man has always been exposed to destruction. He introduces the frightful imagery here to highlight this point; \u201cas one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall\u201d (326). He uses words with negative implications such as \u201cslippery\u201d and \u201cfall\u201d to emphasize the heavy mood. Next, he states that men are \u201cliable to fall of themselves,\u201d signifying that it is their own doing (327). He implements a physical metaphor here to draw the audience into a real sensation, as everyone has experienced and can understand what it is like to be in that particular situation. He continues to define inferences that arise from the verse, concluding that the only force holding mankind back from falling into hell is the mere mercy of God. To prove this point, Edwards furthers his imaginative speech by comparing the power of God over man to the power man has over a little worm to crush it at any moment he desires. Edwards focuses, throughout this introduction, on emphasizing the contrast between the pitiful weakness of man and the eternal power of God to renew a sense of reverence and rightful fear in the Christian community\u2014ultimately, laying the foundation for his next point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The introduction of this sermon is characterized by a stern, disciplinary voice\u2014one that has the intent of convicting each person\u2019s heart and diminishing their confidence. It is focused on humbling the crowd before God and does so through harsh, blaming tones. The application section of the text reveals that the purpose behind such harshness is for \u201cawakening\u201d the people of the congregation\u2014the unconverted, the backsliders, the undecided, and anyone else who may be thinly hanging above hellfire (331). With the brief pause, Edwards continues as he did before, only with increased emphasis\u2014the crescendo of his sermon. He compares God to \u201cgreat waters that are dammed\u201d and continuously increasing in height, with only a matter of time before they break (332). This is another physical metaphor that is relatable and able to draw the congregation again into a very real sensation. He likens God\u2019s wrath to a bow that is bent, aimed at man\u2019s heart, and ready to fire at His will. The voice in this section is derogatory and harsh and, together with the images, it physically stimulates the audience, enabling them to understand the message. The imagery escalates to ensure the conveyance of this reality; \u201cGod that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds\u2026a loathsome insect over the fire\u201d (333). This is the emphatic groundwork for the first shift in his text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point in the sermon, Edwards transitions from an informative, derogatory and demeaning voice to a very concerned voice, calling the audience to \u201cconsider\u201d the horror that is before them. In this moment, he brings the speech down to a personal, relatable level\u2014one that he, too, can feel in his heart. This is evident in the diction, the voice, and the command that he gives the congregation: \u201cO sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in\u201d (333). The word and command, \u201cconsider\u201d reveals that he knows he is speaking to a room full of minds capable of making their own decision to turn their lives again to God. He does not play the role of a ruler or demeaning commander here, condemning them or threatening them to change, but he approaches them with a subtle humility. The manner in which he cries is a warning, demonstrating great care and a relation that he, too, feels the magnitude of this situation. He expresses again in a compassionate and relatable manner, \u201cIt would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath,\u201d and calls them to deeply consider \u201cwhose wrath it is\u201d and \u201cthe fierceness of the wrath\u201d (333-334). Here, rather than feeding them with the knowledge of their shortcomings before God, he now asks them to look for themselves. This self-reflection leads into the final shift\u2014the culmination of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lingering on the fearful images of a great, angry God, and the pitiful nature of men before Him; and calling the people to recognize their horrific state and the implications involved in it; Edwards, at the end of his sermon, introduces a glimmer of hope. It begins with the very powerful conjunction, \u201cbut\u201d that shifts his entire speech in one moment. Edwards begins by depicting the life of a man in hell, and the everlasting pain and regret that he would feel. This physical imagery draws the audience again into relation with the material, enabling them to picture themselves in the suffering man\u2019s place. When this hell-abiding imagery reaches its climax, he then drops the speech with \u201cbut here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation\u201d (337). This is the first instance of any positive, hopeful thought throughout the whole text, and the sudden shift he employs from utter darkness and hopelessness to light is ostensibly very powerful. It swiftly draws the congregation out of the overwhelming, negative imagery, and into a new, firm place\u2014reality. Reality is the final offering of imagery for his listeners. With a new hopeful, compassionate, and loving voice, Edwards makes his final call to the congregation\u2014to adults, youth, and children directly\u2014imploring them turn back to God and follow Him in faithfulness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Edwards\u2019 sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, <\/em>undergoes three drastic movements throughout its presentation. The first is characterized by unpleasant imagery and a demeaning, condemning voice. Edwards uses these devices to draw the congregation into a physical state of understanding. The physical metaphors he implants into the text portrays situations with which each individual would have been very familiar, rendering them subjected and drawn-in to the stimulation. The second movement is characterized by a new voice\u2014one of compassion and relatability. At this point, Edwards shifts from condemnation to calling, inspiring the people to consider for themselves what lies before them, as he himself also does. He executes this through empathetic imagery regarding the compromised state of men under God. The final movement is the peak of the sermon\u2014the pinnacle moment. Here, Edwards offers for the first time hope and light by drawing the audience out of their imagined state in hell and into reality where they still have the capability of turning back to God. Throughout the entire text, Edwards employs imagery to physically stimulate and draw his audience into a place of genuine understanding. His voice changes from unpleasant and harsh to compassionate and loving, which parallels the changing imagery and incites the congregation\u2019s imagination. This speech demonstrates clearly Edwards\u2019 desire to offer the world a deeper and uncommon insight into theological issues of the time. He depicts God throughout it in a manner that few would imagine on their own, which was the key factor that enabled this speech to be one of the most impactful sermons of the Great Awakening (Lauter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 21, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited \/ References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards, Jonathan. \u201cSinners in the Hands of an Angry God.\u201d The Concise Heath Anthology of<\/em> American Literature, <\/em>Edited by Paul Lauter, Cengage Learning, 2014, 326-338.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauter, Paul, editor. The Concise Heath Anthology of American Literature. <\/em>Cengage Learning, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Edwards was a man of deep religious conviction. His theological and philosophical opinions display in him a desire to offer the world controversy and a depth of insight uncommon at the time. This desire is particularly evident in his work, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. This text was originally presented as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[136,137,62,134,135],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-analyses","tag-18th-century","tag-american-literature","tag-christianity","tag-jonathan-edwards","tag-sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}