Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you believe happens to a person after death? Do you believe your soul lives on after your body dies? Do you believe in an afterlife where goodness is rewarded and wickedness is punished? Or do you believe that death is the final step? Something else, perhaps? 

Teaching Suggestion: As a New England Puritan, Edwards not only took for granted that hell was a real place where sinners suffered eternal torment for their transgressions, but that most people in his congregation had already been selected for eternal damnation by the Almighty. In his view, only submission to Christ could save people from hell, and he gave this sermon in the hopes that they would “hearken to the loud calls of God’s word and providence.” As you read, keep in mind that Edwards assumed that many, if not most, of his listeners were destined to an eternity of agonizing torture in the pits of a fiery hell.

• This article from the Pew Research Center offers a detailed breakdown of Americans’ specific beliefs about the afterlife.
• This valuable teacher’s guide from the British Museum contains several examples of artwork from throughout the world that depict the afterlife. (Teacher-facing; not intended for students.)

2. What do you know about the religious traditions of the United States of America? What role has religion played in the nation’s formation, evolution, and identity-building? Which American figures have evoked the figure of God in their speeches, and what did they say about God?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may think of “In God We Trust,” the official motto of the United States, or refer to the phrase “One nation under God,” from the Pledge of Allegiance, or others. Discuss the nation’s foundations in white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant patriarchy, and trace how leaders have cited Protestant Christian values in their decision-making process, for good or for ill.

• This short video made possible by Constitutional Conversations explains the phenomenon of the Great Awakening in the decades immediately preceding the American Revolution.
• “American Scripture” from PBS has a wealth of sources addressing this prompt.

Personal Connection Prompt

Think of a situation in which you felt powerless. What was it like to be at the mercy of factors out of your control?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt orients students to the latter half of the theme of The Omnipotence of God and the Weakness of Humanity and prepares them for the speaker’s emphasis on the listener’s powerlessness in the face of God’s overwhelming wrath. You may want to suggest mundane but nonetheless demoralizing experiences such as the cancellation of a flight, getting lost in a pushy crowd, or having a friend move away. Due to the sensitive nature of this question, you may encourage students to share their responses privately, or you may make this a freewriting journal assignment for personal reflection.   

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who have sensitivity sharing personal information, or for those who are visual learners, you may choose to show them the detail for Masaccio’s Expulsion from the Garden of Eden from 1427 and ask them to share the emotions they see on Adam and Eve’s faces as they accept their punishment from God for their disobedience. Ask them to imagine what these figures are thinking as they experience The Righteousness of God’s Wrath.