A Stylistic Study Of Biblical Influence On Jonathan Edwards’ Sermons

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is widely acknowledged to be the most important and original American philosophical theologian and one of the greatest American intellectuals, and his sermons and other treatises are treasured pieces of American Puritan literature. Jonathan Edwards’ sermons played a significant role in the colonial Puritan life. As the major thinker and writer of the Great Awakening, his sermons provided the reassurance of the connection between God and those Puritans who considered themselves as the God’s chosen people. As a Puritan preacher, leading his congregations to press into the kingdom of God and live under the protection of God as His chosen people has been his utmost mission to perform, which played a significant role in shaping the ideology of Americans.The majority of criticism and scholarship have devoted to the works of Jonathan Edwards take the relationship between Jonathan Edwards’ sermons and the Bible for granted, focusing instead upon theology and philosophy. Owing to the pervasive influences exerted by the Bible in Jonathan Edwards’ sermons, a study of biblical influence on Jonathan Edwards’ sermons is viable; while the lack of previous research makes this study necessary. This study provides a focused and substantial stylistic exploration of the biblical words as well as diverse rhetorical devices like biblical metaphor, biblical analogy, biblical allusion, biblical symbolism and biblical imagery in Jonathan Edwards’ sermons. Through the study of biblical influence on Jonathan Edwards’ sermon from the stylistic approach, which is brand-new in the studies of Jonathan Edwards’sermons, the author hopes to gain a greater insight not only into Edwards as a master of biblical preaching armed with grand biblical knowledge and literary art, but into the nature of his audience and the tenor of his time.