How do biblical allusions support the writers appeal to fear

Fear plays a
very strong role in Edward's "." Even the title is emotional, as anger--especially in
a powerful figure such as a deity--tends to evoke fear.

Edwards used
biblicalto support his argument that people need to repent immediately and change their sinful
ways or the wrath of God will fall on them. The Bible would have had a strong ethos--or
positive, trustworthy character-- among his congregants. Since it would have been understood by
his listeners as the most highly authoritative work in existence, they would have been
emotionally swayed by its imagery, which Edwards used liberally. He chose images that were not
of lying down in peaceful fields by clear waters nor of ambling in a land flowing with milk and
honey. Instead, he alluded to frightening events, such God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
in Genesis 19, writing:

haste and escape for your
lives 
look not behind you escape to the mountains lest you be consumed 


Edwards also alluded to Luke 16:24, in which Jesus tells of the
rich man Lazurus tormented by hellfire, writing:

The wrath
of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is
made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and
glow. 


1.     According to Jonathan Edwards, God getting fed up with your sins and suddenly casting you into the pits of hell is a constant threat to all human beings.

2.     In Edwards’s view, sinners must be reborn into their religion and faith of God to be spared God’s wrath.

3.     Edwards uses the image of God holding a sinner over the pits of hell, like a person holding a spider over a flame.

4.     In Edwards’s sermon fear and terror play a key role in inspiring people to be less sinful. Biblical allusions support the writer’s appeal to fear because the Bible does play on fear in some parts too and it proves that if you fear and respect God he may help you.

Four emotions in this story:

  • School Southwestern Michigan College
  • Course Title ENGL 112
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4. What key image does Edwards use to persuade his audience?

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5. How does language effectively appeal to the audience's emotions and get Edwards'smessage across?

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6. What role does the appeal to fear or terror play in Edwards's sermon? How do biblicalallusions support the writer's appeal to fear? Cite evidence from the sermon to supportyour response.

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  • School Owen J Roberts Hs
  • Course Title ENGLISH 24525
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1.According to Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, what is a constant threat to all humanbeings?

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2. In Edwards’s view, what must sinners do to be spared God’s wrath?

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3. What key image does Edwards use to persuade his audience?

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4. Review the examples of words, phrases, and images you recorded as you read. How doesthis language effectively appeal to the audience’s emotions and get Edwards’s messageacross?

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How is pathos used in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?

In one of Edwards's most famous sermons "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he utilizes rhetorical appeals: pathos, to appeal to the congregation's fear; logos, to appeal to congregation's common sense and logic; and ethos to gain the congregation's trust throughout his sermon to assist him in persuading the ...

How does Jonathan Edwards use pathos in his sermon?

One of the rhetorical appeals that Edwards use in his sermon is fear "pathos". By using fear, he is able to get his point across to his congregation in a clearer manner. "The pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow.