Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Strategies

Norman Goggins September 16, 2010 5th

‘’Sinner In The Hands Of An Angry God’’

Jonathan Edwards used rhetorical strategies to get effectively to get his point across. Such as: imagery, metaphor, simile, pathos, and ethos. All of these rhetorical strategies were successful in this sermon. The ones that I will be explaining in this analysis of his sermon are metaphor, pathos, and imagery. These rhetorical strategies that Jonathan Edwards used, was the best way to get his point across. Imagery played an important part of Jonathan Edwards’s sermon. Imagery is a rhetorical that’s help the author draw a picture for the reader. This also helps to give the reader a better understanding. One example of imagery that Edwards use is ‘‘…would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell. Than a spider web would have to stop a fallen rock.’’ This sends a message to the reader that nothing can stop you from going to hell. This also put the fear of going to hell in people. This
Consider the fearful danger you are in it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of fire wrath.’ this rhetorical strategy that is being is called pathos. Pathos is used to appeal to the readers emotions. In this case Jonathan Edwards uses pathos to appeal to people fear. he is using this to scare people to convert Christ and to stop committing sin. This also helps because most people don’t want to feel the wrath of God. Pathos is one of the best rhetorical strategies that Jonathan Edwards used. Appealing to someone’s emotions is the best way to grab and keep there attention. Fear is a powerful thing if you can get fear into someone you can possible persuades them to do just about anything. That why pathos is an important part of his