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.