Critical Analysis of Religious Literary Works - Annotated Bibliography Example

The Literary Work of Jonathan Edwards, Wilson H Kimnach, Stephen Richard, and Sang Hyun Lee Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God – Jonathan Edwards – Enfield, Connecticut, July 8, 1741. The sermon issued by Jonathan Edwards in his Church in Enfield, Connecticut is a powerful oratorical work. Delivered on July 8 1741, it is an important work that continues to hold relevance for its theological content as well as literary style. Consistent with founding texts of Christianity, there is a pronounced tenor of Godly retribution in Edwards’ work. For example, the following passage from the opening of the sermon indicates the scale of fear and inhibition which Edwards sought to place in the hearts of the congregated audience. “They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yes, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth…” (Edwards 1741) Edward gives detailed account of the nature of God’s wrath. Indeed the torture and torment that awaits the sinners in hell is presented in an elaborate fashion. For example, he says, “They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell”. (Edwards 1741) Following this opening, Edwards highlights that though God is omnipotent he only exacts his punishment on the sinners at the moment of his choosing. In other words, in the divine scheme of things, God disposes justice at an opportune moment that may not be immediate. The reason Edwards points to how God plans retribution is to alert the faithful from shrugging their responsibility. It is only too easy and natural for people to take divine mandates casually if the punitive action against sin is not immediate. Edwards ensures that such complacency does not occur. The tone and intensity of the following message makes clear that the faithful will disregard divine dictates at their own peril. “You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.” (Edwards 1741) Much of the sermon is devoted to instill a sense of dire fear in the hearts of the listeners. Adopting an evangelist style of speech, there are numerous repetitions and variations on the same theme. The text of the sermon taken as a whole is an effective document in creating fear among the believers. Effective as the literary device it might be, it eventually proves counter-productive. For the congregated audience to remember the delivered message, they must be offered some incentive for good action. But by focusing so much on sin and retribution, the author creates sourness rather than moral motivation. Rather than making the assembled audience more morally upright, the sermon may only make them utterly scared and prone to succumb to temptations and vices. Summaries of Critical Essays & Books Wilson H. Kimnach, Caleb J.D. Maskell, and Kenneth P. Minkema, editors. Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God": A Casebook. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010. 204 pages. This book attempts to deconstruct the various dimensions of Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon. In other words, it offers the social, historical and theological contexts for the sermon for the novice reader. Even for those practicing Christianity for a long time, the book offers key insights and asides with respect to the text in question. Included in the book are the authoritative/definitive version of the sermon; essays that tell how the sermon came about and place it in historical and theological context. It serves as a sampling of Edwards' “theological, philosophical and personal writings to contextualize the sermon in the life and thought of the man; a number of contemporary and historical interpretations of the sermon; and a number of lesser devices (chronology, glossary, teaching ideas, and a brief list of suggested readings”. (Kimnach et. al. 12) Turley, Stephen Richard. "Awakened to the Holy: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in Ritualized Context." Christianity and Literature 57.4 (2008): 507+.  This journal article has a specific focus, namely to elucidate Jonathan Edwards’ sermon in the context of local history and Christian theology. In other words, the powerfully worded sermon was unusual at the time in which it was delivered. It struck awe among the listeners and induced them to introspect on their moral condition. The circumstances preceding the deliverance of the sermon are quite interesting. In the neighboring town of Suffield there was a renewal of Christian faith as evidenced from the addition of numerous communicants to the central parish there. This revival of Christianity spread to regions surrounding Suffield. It is in this context that “a number of clergy had banded together to stoke the fires of revival by instituting a series of weekday services, traveling back and forth between pious Suffield and impious Enfield”. (Turley 115) But nothing in the events leading up to the sermon would indicate the compelling logic and captivating imagery compiled up by Edwards. The surprising fact is that Edwards was not erstwhile renowned for making voracious speeches. Rather his mode of sermonizing is thought to be controlled yet authoritative. In sum, the authorial team’s adoption of a ritual-theoretical approach “bridges the gap between the published text and the corporate setting of its original delivery in order to account for the sermon's original efficacy.” (Turley 88) Attention is paid to the language of the pulpit and the psychological effects it has had on the audience. It is insightful of the authors to infer that “the language of the pulpit occupied the listener's identity while the numinous experience evoked the need for a covering of one's creaturely profaneness, thus providing experiential confirmation to the sermon's content and Christ invitation. The divided self was resolved in the listener's adoption of the pulpit's paradigm for interpreting life and the embracing of a new unified corporate order in Christ that embodied that interpretation of life in song and prayer.” (Turley 89) Sang Hyun Lee (Editor), The Works of Jonathan Edwards: Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith. The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 21. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. xii + 566 pp. The book offers a comprehensive survey of Jonathan Edwards’ religious literary output accompanied by useful notes and insightful critical commentary. Describing Edwards as ‘the greatest American philosopher’ in its introduction, the book goes on to support that claim through rigorous synthesis and assimilation of Edwards’ output. The book goes on to talk about some of the neglected facets to Edwards’ theological oeuvre. By adopting such an approach, the book critically re-appropriates his theology to the postmodern sensibility. For example, dimensions of Edwards’ output that garner attention include the influences of John Calvin, Francois Turretin and Petrus van Maastricht on the former. Also, the book explores Edwards’ Augustinianism in the backdrop of early Enlightenment thought. This is an interesting analytic angle, for the tone and style of the Sinners sermon goes against the grain of rationalism which is the essence of the Enlightenment. The endeavor of the compilers of this anthology is to offer scholarly perspectives that are different to the preceding works by Robert E. Brown and Gerald R. McDermott. The focus of the collection seems to be its juxtaposition of Christian dogma and the Enlightenment ethos. What the book also manages to showcase Edwards’ theology as more refined than is what is commonly believed. For all the negative publicity the fundamentalist streak in the sermon garners, Edwards understood God in surprisingly contemporary terms. For example, he sought to “comprehend the divine largely in terms of a relationship of love and of beauty that draws humanity to God.” (Lee 221) His conception of beauty, though, is a bit more conservative, in that, he measured it in terms of “proportion, symmetry, contrast, comparison, and by relations, an experience of beauty which he illustrated by discussing the harmonious and pleasurable music of a choir, natural phenomena such as color, and the relationships among the human senses.” (Lee 221) Jon Meacham, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. New York: Random House, 2006. 416 pp. This collection of key religious texts and speeches in the short history of American Christianity is similar to the compilation by Sang Hyun Lee. This book is a kind of secular liberal version of Jerry Falwell’s Listen America (1980), filled throughout with quotes from ‘The Founders’. But where it fails is the inadequacy to fulfill this goal. For example, the quotes are usually torn off from their contexts and are mostly incomplete. Of all the Founders covered by Meacham, Jonathan Edwards is just one figure. Almost all of the tired liberal secular litany against Christianity is to be found in the book: “the "ferocity of evangelizing Christians" (p. 4); the "strangling" of religion by "extremism" (p. 5); a colonial America of "ambitious clergy" (p. 6); the "criminal" treatment of Native Americans by white settlers committed to converting them to Christianity (p. 45); the close-minded, bigoted, witch-burning, devil-obsessed Puritans (p. 46-54)-who persecuted women (especially that "devoted Puritan" Anne Hutchinson); the "African spiritual holocaust" by Christian slave traders and ministers (p. 45).” (Meacham) Response to Critical Essays/Books There are strengths and weaknesses to the book by Kimnach et al. Its strength is its comprehensiveness and its utility in the classroom environment. The background essays included in the compilation help dispel some of the myths and simplistic caricatures surrounding the personal of Jonathan Edwards. The book’s attempt to link the Sermon with the socio-historical phenomenon of the Great Awakening is of immeasurable value to students and lay readers. It also traces Edwards’ opinions on conversion, as well as his take on Puritan methods for Christian propaganda. The book succeeds in making 18th century theology intelligible to twenty-first century minds, but it accomplishes this with grace and ease and transparency of thought that is the envy of any who have taught American religious history. For example, esoteric concepts like the “sovereignty of God, predestination of the elect, origin of sin, and divine justice” are all neatly explained and weaved together into a logical whole that is easy for students to understand. As for the shortcomings in the book by Kimnach et al, it falls short in including leading commentators on Edwardian scholarship. Perry Miller was included, but conspicuous by his absence is George Marsden. Instead of these noted figures, popular cultural icons were included, which has the effect of diluting scholarly rigor. The views of Mark Twain, Robert Lowell, Edwin H. Cady and Marilynne Robinson are all interesting, but are not directly focused on Edwards and his key scholarship. Other inclusions are more perplexing. For example, Teddy Roosevelt and participants in the Toronto Blessing are a bit out of place in the context of the book. Despite these drawbacks, the casebook is still offers value for students and will be of use in the classroom. (Kimnach et. al. 12) The anecdotal recapturing of the sermon experience is one of the highlights of the work by Stephan Turley. For example, the immediate reaction of the congregation upon hearing the sermon is noted thus: “...before the Sermon was done there was a great moaning & crying out throughout the whole house: what Shall I do to be Saved--oh I am going to Hell--of what shall I do for a Christ, etc. The shrieks & cries were piercing & amazing (qtd. in Medlicott 218).” (Turley 78) Another positive feature of the book is its location of Edwards’ famous sermon in the context of larger American sermonic literature. To this extent the book is a continuation of the work by scholars Wilson Kimnach and Helen Westra, who excelled in documenting the evolution of American Christianity. What is fresh about the anthology by Sang Hung Lee is its documentation of the cultural aftershocks that the Sinners sermon had had on American society. Indeed, so controversial was the sermon at the time of its first delivery that 18th and 19th century scholars evaded the topic of Edwards’ theological inheritance and its rather unwilling descendants. But the commentaries by Sang Hyun Lee fills this void in scholarship satisfactorily. It is not hyperbole to claim that we all owe Sang Hyun Lee for not only performing apt editing on the Edwardian oeuvre, but also adding valuable commentary that complements the core texts. Coverage is given to Edwards’ thought on a wide range of subjects, including the nature of God, God's love, and human faith. The book by Jon Meacham titled American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation has more drawbacks than merits. Rather than being a niche scholarship meant for students and professors, this book is addressed to a popular audience. While this increases its reach, in the same token it decreases its rigor and depth. Author Jon Meacham agrees as much when he states in his acknowledgements that “it is not a work of historical or theological scholarship ... it is an essay that covers a great deal of territory quickly and briefly" (pp. 389-90). Though this is a big drawback it is covered up by impressive touch ups and blurbs by the publisher. The provision of a Bibliographical list at the end of the book is no compensation for its overall misguidance. Sweeping generalizations and overtly political censorship are demerits attached to the book. Rather than illuminating and advancing this important field of religion and politics, it obscures and retards it. Of the past twenty years of careful, intelligent scholarship on the subject, he seems wholly unfamiliar. Therefore, what purports to be a balanced, careful, and accurate study, is in fact a superficial, ideologically biased, and historically inaccurate account. The work and influence of the most important Christian theologian of the 18th century, Jonathan Edwards, is only briefly dealt with. For example the Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God sermon is mostly criticized for its vehement message with no attention paid to its literary and historical significance. Works Cited: Wilson H. Kimnach, Caleb J.D. Maskell, and Kenneth P. Minkema, editors. Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God": A Casebook. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010. 204 pages. Turley, Stephen Richard. "Awakened to the Holy: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in Ritualized Context." Christianity and Literature 57.4 (2008): 507+.  Sang Hyun Lee (Editor), The Works of Jonathan Edwards: Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith. The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 21. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. xii + 566 pp. Jon Meacham, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. New York: Random House, 2006. 416 pp. Read More