As the great awakening flew across the American colonies,
many people came to realization of their deep need for salvation through a Savior.
Previous worship became intensely personal and encouraged a lot of
introspection and commitment to a higher standard of living. Although many
people rapidly changed, this was not true however for all. To help all those
realize the importance of these teachings, Jonathan Edwards, a prominent Christian
preacher, stood in front of his congregation to declare repentance and was ultimately
successful in motivating his intended audience to action through his persuasive
appeal to pathos.
Edwards’s strongest rhetorical strategy was his appeal to
pathos through his descriptive imagery. The analogy of man and a spider made it
clear how totally dependent we are upon God. In this way I believe that the audience
was moved and truly understood that their fate lied in the hands of God and
that they needed to appease this God in order to be saved. But often it is hard
to change unless we understand the reason why. This is why his use of pathos
was so efficacious because it brought understanding to all who heard him.
As I read Jonathan Edwards’s sermon I felt like he was
pleading with his audience that they might repent. I could almost picture him passionately
begging with those who had not been born again to accept God and do what they
need to do. This tone which Edwards implored aided the listeners to realize the
sincerity with which the sermon was delivered and not become offended due to
the content.
Through his tactful use of pathos to help all truly understand
their complete dependence upon God and his convincing tone of plea, Jonathan
Edwards was successful in helping others to change their ways.
I think it is interesting that you say you could picture Jonathan Edwards "pleading" with the audience. From what I gather, he was a quiet speaker, which would directly connect to him pleading even though the text doesn't sound like pleading as much as it sounds like shouting. Interesting thought, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIf he was pleading, I think that would make his pathetic appeal all the stronger. I wonder if part of his pleading had to do with a desire to have them enter a brave new world. As part of the renaissance there was a desire to seek out new things, perhaps this concept of repentance was new to the people and so he needed to get them emotionally on board with it.
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