Whew. What a sermon. Here are the questions I originally posed...
1. What is the sermon's purpose?
2. How does it evoke its purpose? What tactics does it employ?
3. Why do you think the Puritans valued this sermon? What did it offer them?
Here are other questions that arose for me as I listened today...
1. What repeated words or images stand out to you? What motifs?
2. What kind of a god does Edwards' sermon describe?
3. Based on the body of information we have about religion in Puritan times from Edward and Miller, what, do you think, connected culture anxiety and religion in this time period?
What questions or thoughts did it inspire for you? Explore connections between your reading and this sermon, between both texts and our guiding question. You may answer one or several of these questions, or pose your own.
Remember, this is an online conversation, not a piece of paper you're handing in. Challenge one another's thinking by responding directly to your classmates, i.e. "Bob, I see what you're saying, but have you considered..." Challenge each others' thinking in a polite, tactful way. Ask good questions. Don't just post and walk away...
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I think the purpose of the surmon was to really impress upon people the power of God. It aimed to make people really want to follow and obey him. It did this through fear. The surmon basically scared people into obeying God. It described and threatened at the prospect of hell and the power of God to make it so that people would put God before everything. The surmon made people so scared, that they no longer put God aside for their own gain, because they feared that as they gained, God could and would take it all away with a vengeance. I think the Puritan's valued this sermon because it gave them a good reason to live the way they did. They followed countless strict rules. Their lives consisted of work and worship basically. After awhile, that lifestyle would get tiring. But a sermon like this is a sort of motivation for them to keep going in with their tough lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteJust for fun, even though I know we did this in class, I "wordled" the sermon on wordle.net. The biggest words were "God," "Hell," "Wrath," and "Nothing." This wordle helped me to determine the purpose of the sermon, which is, in my opinion, just like Bridget said, to scare the Puritans into a way of life that was culturally acceptable, and forced upon them. The preacher got his point across by way of fear, a technique successfully used many times in history. (Just think about HItler, World War Two, and McCarthyism.)This sermon instilled fear into the Puritans so that they would come together and serve God. The thing that most confused me was why Edward used phrase (or some form of the phrase)"..no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it." Just the image of a person suspended over thin air with nothing to hold them up must have scared the people, but, what I was wondering, is if there is any other intention, besides fear, to use that phrase so much. What do you all think?
ReplyDeleteIf there was no other intention besides fear, then is fear ultimately the biggest motivator?
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like fear was used as a big motivator (to answer Kailyn’s question) to get people to turn back to God and stop their wrong ways. Edward’s seemed to believe that human nature is to be reactive, not proactive. I think that this statement is true; fear seems to be the best way to get people to actual do something about an aspect in their life. A good example of this is global warming. This fear for the world is causing us to act upon it. I think this was Edward’s purpose of this sermon. Like Bridget said, the sermon was meant to scare people into following and serving God.
ReplyDeleteI believe the purpose of the sermon was to strike the fear of an ever-present and always-controlling God into the minds of everyone at the time. The tactics the sermon imployed were along the lines of fear of an eternity in hell, which is what would occur if God were to suddenly let go of us. In other words, it scared the listeners with the thought of infinate sufferting and torture. I think the Puritans valued this sermon because it reassured them they were doing the right thing to avoid going to hell for an eternity. "Hell" was definitely a word that stood out to me, and the kind of God Edwards' sermon describes, obviously, an angry God who is very tempted to drop us into hell. I think the thing that connected culture anxiety and religion in that time was the fear of what was going to happen after death and the constant worrying of what to do to prevent an eternity in hell.
ReplyDeleteWhile listening to the sermon, I couldn't help wondering why this religion appealed to people back then. To me, religion is about love, not fear. Who wants to follow a God they're scared of? Yes, in response to all the posts above, I think the main focus of this speech was hell, which therefore evokes fear. It painted a picture of an angry and impatient God who was ready to drop us into hell any second. I think this may have been a tactic used by preachers to keep people in line and keep people in church. It also gives them power over their congregation, because if they are God's messenger, then you had better listen to them or go to hell.
ReplyDeleteI believe that anger and fear bring people together more then love and comfort. They give a common goal, and allow you to be part of something. Perhaps all cultural anxieties boil down to being accepted, and being a part of something. Life cannot exist without others, and both humans and all other living things seek out company (or mates). We need to fit in, fear can do that.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen in a culture, something that was orginially good and liked, like God in the sermon, to something of fear in order to change someone's perspective on something?
ReplyDeleteFor instance when i was in elementary school all the girls were very good at sports, but as we got older being good at sports that we played with boys was "not okay". Apparently it was better to let the boys win things even though the girls could out run them or play them any day. That was turned into a fear for some of us....that we wouldn't be "liked".
The sermon, as everone has noted, does seem intended to draw fear from listeners. It creates a division between the preacher and the parish. Also between those in the parish who act accordingly to the preacher's words and those who disregard them. I believe this division could become fuel for those wishing to accuse someone because somehow the preacher has deemed who is suitable and who is not. The preacher is suddenly on a pedestal, proclaiming who will live and who will die, seldomly including himself in the tallies. Using vivid descriptions of the fate that could await them, the sermon employs energy and zeal. It accentuates God's disgust and power. As a Christian, I know these passages are found throughout the Bible but there a countless amount that seek to comfort and to assure one of God's unending love.
ReplyDeleteThe puritans relished this sort of sermon because, as others have said, it gave meaning to their meaningless life of drudgery. They thirsted for a purpose and the sermon handed it to them, however terrible and fear-inspiring it may have been.
As a parallel to our novel, I related Edwards and Parris to eachother. Knowing that Paris is ultimately a fear-driven man, I wonder if Edwards also was led by fear and perhaps expressed his own fear in his sermon.
Question: How immoral, in modern-day standards were the Puritans and villagers of towns like Salem?
his sermon’s purpose was to absolutely scare people into a religion. It uses innate human fears to shake one down to their core and make them follow something they may or may not believe, because they are afraid. Also, it completely smothered any desire to question it, for fear of being dropped into a fiery pit of damnation that they weren’t sure even existed or not. But they dare not question it aloud, oh no; and that is why this sermon was valued by the puritans, it kept people in check, kept the status quo. it also, however, satisfied their need for some "juicy gossip." their lives were so dull, that when they heard this, it was like hearing the story of bigfoot as a child; interesting and captivating, but also fear inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI think that cultural anxiety and religion were connected in this time period because religion WAS their culture. They lived their lives through religion, so naturally that is where the root of the anxiety was.
In response to what Kailyn said, fear is certainly the biggest motivator in this sermon. The language and tone used scared Puritans into believing that they were sinners and would face the "wrath" of God if they did not live to serve God. Although fear is the central motivation of this sermon I don't think fear is the driving power behind all persuasion. What do you all think other powerful tactics are in motivating or persuading people?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Paige L's post, I think that some other tactics for motivating or persuading people are personal gain or wealth as a result. Because although fear is a huge factor in this Preacher's sermon, I also think that personal gain is a big part of it because by doing what he preaches and following the Puritan ways stricly you can stay out of hell and be saved. So I think that that plays a key role in lots of motivational speeches.
ReplyDeleteI think the main purpose of the sermon was to use fear to get people to follow the church and not question it. I think some tactics that were used were fear, guilt, shame and suspision. In the sermon they talked a lot about 'hell' and 'the wrath of God'. I think the church doesn't want to lose any of its followers. I think the Puritans valued this sermon because it offered them a reason to belong to the church. If anyone ever questioned the beliefs of the church they could refer to the sermon for support. When we wordled the sermon in class, I noticed that the words 'God', 'Wrath', and 'Hell' are the most repeated words in the sermon. God is described as angry and judemental in the sermon. I think this sermon was a way to keep the Puritans faithful to the church and not question the ways of the community.
ReplyDeleteI think the Puritans valued this sermon because it reassured them that what they believed in was right and it motivated them, as Bridget and many other people have said, to keep their faith. Repeated words that stood out to me were wickedness, pit of hell, and sinner. They were not mentioned as much as god, hell, wrath and nothing, but they still stood out to me as telling the reader that that is what would happen to them. Therefore, I agree with most everyone else that said that fear plays a huge factor in the sermon. In response to Paige and Haley's posts I think another movitator or persuader for people is the band wagon. This goes along with cultural anxiety because you feel cultural anxiety to fit in. When you try to fit in, you try to do what everybody else does so that you won't stand out and you will be "safe". As in, people won't notice you because other people are doing the same thing. Just like the people that followed this sermon... they listened to the sermon so that they would fit in and not stand out as having no religion. It was a bad time to stand out as having no religion because of all the accusations.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Kailyn's question, I think fear definitely is THE motivator. Without having the fear of going to hell after you die, why else do people try to satisfy and do as God wishes? Why else would they follow morals and ethics, without fear of what would happen if they didn't? With this fear of not going to heaven, religion was a huge part of the cultural anxiety in Salem.
ReplyDeleteI think that the sermon's purpose was to show the wraith of God and to invoke fear into people in order to keep them under control. The sermon used this fear of God to create a stable community and to keep the ability to rule the people peacefully. The Puritans boring and plain lifestyle would have lead to some of them acting out and even revolting, this sermon uses the threat of Hell to keep them in line and to continue to make the people work for an honest living.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the purpose of the sermon was not only to scare people into believing in God, like people have said in previous posts, but also to give people an idea of how our choices affect our everyday lives. The message that came across to me from the sermon was one that said that the only reason I haven't been condemned to hell was by the grace of God, and His forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the type of sermon that would speak directly to the Puritans because of their lifestyle and values. They believed it was very important to go to church every Sunday, no matter what the circumstances were, and to always take the higher road and to try to live a pure life. The sermon presented represents the motivation for the Puritans to live in these standards so that they would be seen pure in God's eyes, so that they may one day go to Heaven, and not be sentenced to hell. The sermon made this message clear by using fear, and to make the listeners feel grateful to count their blessings that they were not rotting in hell.
In Edward's sermon, he makes God seem like a mean, powerful God whom everyone fears and respects in order to remain on an unmentioned "good side". He gives the impression to all who are listening that if one were to not obey all of God's commands, then that would make Him angry, and He would take out His wrath against the person who was to disobey him.
I think that the purpose of this sermon was to show the wrath of god to the puritans. This might have contributed to all their rules because they though that god's wrath could come down on them. All the rules led to the conviction of witches because the puritans held their rules in such high regards that if someone broke the rules they were prosecuted. This sermon shows the angry side of god, but not the loving side of god that other religions go by.
ReplyDeleteMabey why people liked this sermon so much was not because of how it made them act or feel, but how they thought it made others feel. If someone was listening to this sermon they might feel humbled and scared, or they might think, "I hope so-and-so is listening. They are allways late for church." This sermon does much more than scare people into cultural rules, it instills in them dislike and a feeling of power over those who do not obey cultural laws.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of this sermon was to make people terrified of god and by extension the church. It portrayed an angry and wrathful god whose will alone is keeping us all from falling into hell and it conveys a message that he could pluck us into hell for any sin. Its message was quite clear “bend to the will of the Church or go to hell!” As others have said on this blog, this gave the church complete and total control over all elements of the citizens lives and they could not question the church and its methodology without the almost certain punishment of hell. The sermon clearly illustrates the power of god, something that may have existed in the abstract for these puritans prior to such a sermon. Its angry, terrifying, wrathful tone and frequent depictions of a fiery hell and wrathful god further served to illustrate the power of the church and to impart fear in the citizenry. This imagery of hell, the devil and the wrathful god clearly and explicitly illustrated this for the puritans and served as the motifs through which the message of the sermon was imparted. In this time period religion was the cultural anxiety. The fear of being punished by god and going to hell was promoted by the church, which held all power within the community. This is the main reason the puritans valued this sermon though I am not sure valued is really the right word. This sermon illustrated and confirmed the power of god and his church which made them fearful and caused them to follow it within their daily lives.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Melissa’s point, I wanted to say that I do not think fear must is always the primary reason people follow certain religions. Many people follow the teachings of certain religions because they seek to help the lord so to speak by being good people and helping each other. In fact in “The Crucible” it is mentioned that there was no such thing as an “evil god” in any religion, prior to the establishment of Christianity. This shows that fear was not a big element of religions prior to Christianity. Fear was only necessary as a religious motivation when religions such as Christianity came along and sought greater control and power over their citizen’s lives. It is clear that the Christian church as well as other religions that use fear as a primary motivation for dedication to the church and religion did not belief their religious values and teachings were strong enough to inspire the extreme personal dedication to the church that was necessary for the church to maintain its control and power. This is why fear, which was created through the use of ideas such as the devil, hell and “a wrathful god”, became an important motivational factor for dedication to these religions.
To me the purpose of the sermon was to let the people know who is the overall ruler. The writer feels that God is the one and only person to listen to and tries to influence everyone hearing/reading the sermon to agree with him. Also the purpose could be to sway defiant citizens to their side.
ReplyDeleteI think that the sermon was very different from the sermons we listen to today. For example, that sermon was very negative, saying that the only reason that we are here on this Earth and not burning in a pit of never ending fire is by the sheer pleasure of God. It pretty much is saying that we are not worthy to be here and if we mess up once, God will punish us badly. I think that many of the people were so upset about witchcraft because they were afraid of their fragile existence. The reason they tried so many people during this time is because of their fear of being thrown into that inferno.
ReplyDeleteThe sermon seemed to inflict more fear than love and hope. The sermon was more for want you should not do and it almost seemed as if you step one foot outside of what you "should" do then God will send you to Hell. It used the world God and Hell a lot together, which then lead the reader to think that this is was the writer want you as the reader/listener to concentrate. This sermon however, helps the reader understand why some of the characters in The Crucible acted the way they did.
ReplyDeleteI think the point of this sermon was to both strike fear to those who hear/listen to it but to also give some ground to the puritan belief. It effectively captures some beliefs of theirs so they liked it and may have used this as a way to sort of frighten people to think like them.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the point of this speech was to scare the nonbelievers in the congregation into joining their religion. They were also scaring the believers into witnessing in hopes of getting other people around them to believe as well. One thing that stood out to me was that the preacher almost used hate, and the devil, more than god and love. It seems like they had a compltetly different idea about religion than they do now. I think people were so terrified of going to hell that it was a cutltural anxiety by itself, and people thought of things, like witchcraft, to get the people who were poision to their religion out of their midst.
ReplyDeleteGod, Hell, Wrath, and Nothing. In this set of words there seems to me to be an outlier. "Nothing" is out of place here, kind of. I thinkl that fear was the main motivator from this speech, but not of God or Hell or Wrath. I think they followed their lifestyle from fear there was Nothing. No God, Hell, or Wrath waiting for them, but Nothing. That seems to be their fear to me.
ReplyDeleteI think the purpose of this sermon was to make the puritans concious of their situation on earth. That God was the only thing keeping them from hell, that they need to be concious of the decisions they make and make these decisions so that God will spare you from his wrath. The sermon definitely uses fear as a tactic to create a feeling of belief in the sermon.Because they were afraid of what could happen if this sermon was true, they didn't want to risk the possibility of angering their God more. The fear it created made the Puritans afraid of what they had done to put themselves in this situation and also made them afraid of repeating these actions. I think the Puritans valued this sermon because they valued the happiness of their God and they also valued their ability to get to Heaven and knew that God's opinion of them was going to decide if they went to heaven. Another reason they valued this sermon was because a person with power said these things the preacher was an important person in the community and his opinion was valued.
ReplyDeleteI think the purpose of the sermon was to use fear to make sure that the congregation stayed faithful to God and never to sin. When the preacher kept repeating that the only being keeping them out of hell was God, it made them live in fear of upsetting God and being sent to hell. It sounds a lot like my cousin's wedding.
ReplyDelete