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The Teacher’s Guide for In-Class Discussion of ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’
The following questions (divided into four parts) examine the rhetoric of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and should hopefully engender illuminating discussion among your students. Following each questions is a series of likely responses from students or possibilities to consider as you guide your students through this infamous sermon.
You may want to give these questions to your students the night before, asking them to consider the questions as they read “Sinners” and come to class prepared to discuss. Teacher Resource: [Sinners – Critical Questions, Option 1]
Possible Responses to the Critical Questions:
Part I: Getting Started - Initial Impressions
Question 1: What was stirring, striking, or memorable to you in reading this sermon?
Likely Responses : Danger, destruction, fear evoked by images (See Part II for a discussion of images) Portrayal of God as punitive, angry, destructive Repetition o Why is this important for a sermon? Can you recall other speeches you’ve heard—or have given—that have also used repetition?
Part II: “O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in!”
Question 1: What images or analogies does Jonathan Edwards use to evoke the situation of the unconverted? (What does it mean to be unconverted ?)
Some Images/Analogies: Falling (page 1) Chaff and whirlwind (2, 7) Dry stubble and flames (3) Worm and foot (3) Thread and scissors (3) Person on rotten covering (4) Lead (7) Rock and spider’s web (7) Black clouds full of rain and thunder (7) Dammed waters ready to burst forth (7) Bow and arrow (7) Note: See the following version of ‘Sinners’ for more on imagery, analogies, metaphors, etc. [Include link to the ‘Language Version’ of ‘Sinners’]
Question 2: What are the most prominent themes communicated by these images?
Possible Responses:
Asymmetry of power and importance Inescapable nature of destruction Imminence, though unpredictability, of destruction Seeds of destruction are there, just momentarily stayed, restrained by God
Question 3: How are listeners meant to feel?
Possible Responses: Aware of their vulnerability and impotence Aware of the danger they are in, and afraid
Question 4: Come up with another image that conveys a predicament similar to the plight of the sinner that Edwards speaks of.
Possibilities: Cocked gun Volcano ready to erupt Violet and lawnmower
Question 5: Edwards communicates the danger of death and damnation that faces the unconverted. What might his listeners think would preserve the wicked? How does Edwards counter these assumptions?
Below are listed a number of assumptions that Edwards’ congregants may have had about God and salvation. Following each assumption is a series of counter-points that Edwards makes in the sermon.
God doesn’t have the power to destroy me. o God does have this power. Doctrine I states that “ … the earth trembles…the rocks are thrown down” before God; clearly he can cast a wicked person into hell. It wouldn’t be fair for me to be damned. o People’s sins make them deserve to be damned. Justice demands it. They are already sentenced to hell. No one deserves not to be damned because of his own merits. (Doctrines II and III) If God were really angry with me, then I would be in hell now. Since I’m alive now, then God must not be angry enough with me to condemn me. o God is just as angry with some people who are not in hell. You are only alive because God is sustaining you (Doctrine IV) and holding the devil back and not letting him claim you (Doctrine V) and controlling the hellish principles within people that could themselves create hell (Doctrine VI). Thus God is preserving people’s lives and protecting them from hell from without (in the person of the devil) and from within (hell within their own souls). I am young and healthy and in no danger, so I have no reason to expect to die. o Lived experience in all ages shows that there are “innumerable and inconceivable” ways of dying unexpectedly. (Doctrine VII) But not me—I’m wise and careful to preserve my life, and other people are also looking out for me. o Lived experience proves otherwise. If people could protect themselves or others, then the “wise and politic” would die after
Possible Responses: Compelling and familiar imagery (from Bible and of Edwards’ invention) Relation to the audience (addressing the congregation’s assumptions about God and salvation; discussing the possibility of even one congregant being condemned to hell) Repetition of messages and images (ensures comprehension, but admittedly risks boredom) Stirring of audience to change (by use of compelling and fearful imagery) Doesn’t just frighten listeners - offers a way to change the situation (Christian life, aspiring towards conversion)
Question 2: What are Edwards’ sources of authority or credibility? How does he elicit a response from his listeners?
Possible Responses: Sources of Authority/Credibility: o Biblical passages that support his claims o Biblical stories (eg: Nebuchadnezzar and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) o Lived experience (eg: knowledge of people who died unexpectedly) Methods of Eliciting Listener Response: o Using images and analogous situations to elicit emotional response o Drawing on and considering implications of listeners’ understanding of God o Logical reasoning
