Characteristics of an Execution Sermon
- Early sermons rarely named, instead the individual was referred to as "sinner" or "condemned"
- Sermon's focused on the smaller sins that ultimately led up to the bigger sin of murder. Smaller sins often referenced in execution sermons were unclean lifestyles and disobedience.
- Sermon's were used to create an empathy for the criminal and the problems in their life that brought them to the unfortunate predicament that led to their execution
- Execution sermon's made an exemplar of the criminal. The downfall of the condemned was a failure of the community, not just the person. The sermon attempted to show the audience that if one person could commit a crime like this, anyone could without the assistance of God.
- Early sermon's rarely mentioned the crime committed.
- Later execution sermon's began to mention the crimes committed and the names of the condemned criminals.
Illustration:
Brown, Debra. "English Historical Fiction Authors". Blogger. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.