Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Is this speech a powerful argument? Why or why not? Write 1 paragraph in which you persuasively answer the question. You must discuss the following items: The speaker The intended audience The purpose
Your name English 11A, Per. Ms. Beckman 25 October 2010 Title
What makes a good speaker? The speaker must be good looking or attractive. The speaker should be articulate and speak well. The speaker must be passionate about what they say. The speaker should be well-dressed. The speaker must understand his/her audience. The speaker should use lots of body language and arm/hand motions.
Speech Rubric Thesis Organization Fluency Audibility/Pronunciati on Speed/Pauses Expression/Tone Advanced (3pts) Proficient (2 pts) Not Proficient (1 pt)
Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards was a Congregationalist minister who became pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1724, the same church his grandfather lead until 1729. Here he exerted considerable influence on the religious development of the early American colonies, partly because of his dynamic style and partly because it was the most important Massachusetts pulpit outside of Boston. Scholars generally consider his preaching to have been the spark which lead to the first "Great Awakening" (1735-1735), a grassroots religious revival movement which redefined American religion for decades to come. Edwards was very dogmatic and conservative in his Calvinist beliefs; however, his commitment to traditional Calvinism was not an unthinking loyalty - over many years he had struggled with objections to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, for example, although he did finally reach a conclusion which satisfied him. For Edwards, true religion was not a matter of simply accepting particular doctrines but instead an experience of God which takes complete possession of the individual. This was not the tradition of the churches in the area, including his own, and thus the church members grew dissatisfied with Edwards' changing ideas. As a result, on June 22, 1750 he was officially dismissed from his job and on July 1, he gave his "Farewell Sermon." Although personally defeated, Edwards' position on this matter was ultimately the one which would take hold and come to define Congregationalism. In 1751 he became pastor of a frontier church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and in 1758 the accepted the position of president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University). His son-in-law, Aaron Burr, had been the previous president, but Edwards himself only served a month before dying from a smallpox vaccine. Born: Oct. 5, 1703 Connecticut Died: March 22, 1758 New Jersey Job: Pastor, Missionary, Theologian Education: Yale College (1716-1720) Religion: Calvinist (Reform)
The First Great Awakening The title Great Awakening is usually applied to the many revivals ich occurred in the American colonies in the 1700s. It was spread by wandering achers who advocated personal responsibility in the interpretation of the Bible, but olars locate the origin with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards. Hundreds of itinerant preachers wandered through the back woods the American frontier - Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, mostly. The primary phasis was on personal, inner religion and represented a continuation of the rliest doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. This, in turn, probably lead to people king greater say in politics as well, thus leading to more widespread support for the als of the Revolution. The First Great Awakening The First Great Awakening began in 1725 and lasted to about 1750. nisters from various evangelical Protestant denominations supported the Great akening. Indeed, for an age of strife and competition, the Awakening was strikingly menical. Additionally, pastoral styles began to change. In the late colonial period, st pastors read their sermons, which were theologically dense and advanced a rticular theological argument or interpretation. Leaders of the Awakening such as athan Edwards and George Whitfield had little interest in merely engaging rishioners' minds; they wanted far more to elicit an emotional response from their dience, one which might yield the workings and evidence of saving grace. Some What: A sharp interest in reform and religion When: 1725-1750 Who: How: Evangelical Protestan Ministers (Jonathon Edwards, George Whitfield) Emotional sermons
Impact on Individuals The period of the Great Awakening was a time of increased religious activity, particularly in New England. The First Great Awakening led to changes in Americans' understanding of God, themselves, and the world around them. In the Middle and Southern colonies, especially in the "back country" regions, the Awakening was influential among Presbyterians. In the southern Tidewater and Low Country, northern Baptists and Methodist preachers converted both whites and blacks, enslaved and free. The Baptists especially welcomed blacks into active roles in congregations, including as preachers. Before the American Revolution, the first black Baptist churches were founded in the South in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia; in Petersburg, Virginia, two black Baptist churches were founded. The new style of sermons and the way people practiced their faith breathed new life into religion in America. Participants became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. Ministers who used this new style of preaching were generally called "new lights", while the preachers who remained unemotional were referred to as "old lights". People affected by the revival began to study the Bible at home. This effectively decentralized the means of informing the public on religious manners and was akin to the individualistic trends present in Europe during the Protestant Reformation. The Awakening played a major role in the lives of women, especially, though rarely were they allowed to preach or take public roles. Religion: Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists Gender: WOMEN! And men Race: Whites and Blacks Where: The southern states
Sermons Jonathan Edwards: A Divine and Supernatural Light Those convictions that natural men may have of their sin and misery, is not is spiritual and divine light. Men in a natural condition may have convictions of the guilt that s upon them, and of the anger of God, and their danger of divine vengeance. Such nvictions are from the light of truth. That some sinners have a greater conviction of their ilt and misery than others, is because some have more light, or more of an apprehension of th, than others. And this light and conviction may be from the Spirit of God; the Spirit nvinces men of sin: but yet nature is much more concerned in it than in the communication that spiritual and divine light that is spoken of in the doctrine; it is from the Spirit of God only assisting natural principles, and not as infusing any new principles. George Whitfield: What Think Ye of Christ? Some, and I fear a multitude which no man can easily number, there are ongst us, who call themselves Christians, and yet seldom or never seriously think of Jesus rist at all. They can think of their shops and their farms, their plays, their balls, their semblies, and horse-races (entertainments which directly tend to exclude religion out of the rld); but as for Christ, the author and finisher of faith, the Lord who has bought poor sinners th his precious blood, and who is the only thing worth thinking of, alas! he is not in all, or at st in very few of their thoughts. But believe me, O ye earthly, sensual, carnally-minded ofessors, however little you may think of Christ now, or however industriously you may strive keep him out of your thoughts, by pursuing the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the ide of life, yet there is a time coming, when you will wish you had thought of Christ more, and your profits and pleasures less. For the gay, the polite, the rich also must die as well as hers, and leave their pomps and vanities, and all their wealth behind them. And O! what