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Subject Area: Rhetoric
Richardson, Herbert W.2018 1-4955-0698-3 328 pages
The author describes his four years studying for the ministry at the Boston University School of Theology. He analyzes the curriculum, the practical training, the relations between faculty and students, and explains how it transformed him and prepared him to function effectively as a Christian minister.
Tejera, Victorino
1996 0-7734-8884-7 216 pages
This volume brings together Aristotle's interrelated views of poetry, speech-making, and inference, so that they create the equipment needed by students of the arts and sciences for the pursuit of their inquiries in the disciplines and the study of the histories of these disciplines and their landmark texts. Aristotle's poetics emerge from the book's analytic summaries as responsive to the expressiveness of Greek tragedy, while his rhetoric is brought into a closer relation with the logic of inference, made necessary by the persistence of sophistic reasoning in philosophy, literary criticism, and the discourse of our public sphere.
Reid, Marty L.
1996 0-7734-2367-2 216 pages
This study contributes to the understanding of early Christian rhetoric by focusing upon the interaction between Augustinian and Pauline rhetoric in Romans Five. The study first examines Augustine's hermeneutic with special attention to the function of rhetoric. It then considers Augustine's interpretation of the Apostle Paul. The author establishes the significance of Romans Five in Augustine's theology and assesses the bishop's exegesis. A particular contribution of the study is the detailed analysis of Augustine's construal of Romans 5:12-21, offering a judicious critique of traditional interpretation. The conclusion provides a solution to the ongoing debate concerning the rhetorical function and argumentative structure of Romans. This work furnishes a fresh elucidation and recent appraisal of the hermeneutical task of interpreting the Pauline epistles as rhetorical discourse.
Fehler, Brian
2007 0-7734-5430-6 208 pages
An examination of early nineteenth-century journals, sermons, and course syllabi written by prominent members of the Calvinist clergy, especially the Bartlet Chairs of Sacred Rhetoric at Andover Seminary, shows how an emerging oratorical culture in the United States impacted the choices made by Calvinist clergy. This study considers how the theory and practice of rhetoric changed in the face of democratizing forces that contributed to a distinctly oratorical culture in the early republic. This study should appeal to scholars interested in the history of rhetoric and American religion.
Pearson, Sharon Clark
2001 0-7734-7632-6 304 pages
The hallmark of the composition of 1 Peter is the careful weaving of many types of source material into a tapestry of reassurance. The Christological testimony of 1 Peter is advanced primarily by the use of traditional deposits which have been selected, correlated and arranged by a sufferings/glories pattern derived from the Servant Song of Isaiah 53. They are best seen as a connected series, illumined by the Old Testament background and set in place as hymn-like sections which inspire the obedience and faithful witness required by the parenetic sections which follow. Exodus imagery, viewed through the prism of Deutero-Isaiah’s adaptation of it in Isaiah 53-54, is reapplied in the exhortations of 1 Peter. Further collection of evidence reveals the 1 Peter’s use of Deutero-Isaiah goes well beyond what has been recognized up to now.
Geddes, LaDonna
1991 0-7734-9914-8 124 pages
Studies the development of rhetorical theory within the framework of the definitive questions: what is rhetoric; what constitutes a good speaker; how should truth be defined; what is knowledge; and what is involved in audience analysis. Examines the how these questions are treated by Plato, Isocrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, St. Augustine, Peter Ramus, and John Locke. Begins with the preface that man's desire to understand himself and the world in which he lives is founded in a study of history; that it is through an understanding of an era's social organizations and behaviors (which are revealed by its rhetoric and rhetorical theories) that insight can be gained into the manner in which the leaders of that time perceived two concepts: the nature of man, and the interrelationships of man and his world. Contemporary exercises and projects invite the reader to apply the concepts explored to modern issues.
Witt, Robert W.
1992 0-7734-9893-1 340 pages
This is a textbook specifically designed to make students aware that various rhetorical modes can and should be combined to produce the most effective results. All the selections in the text combine various strategies while clearly demonstrating one above the others and thus serve as excellent models. The last section includes selections chosen expressly for the purpose of demonstrating combined modes. Headings include "Description/Characterization"; "Narration'; "Process"; "Comparison/Contrast/Analogy"; "Division/Classification"; "Definition"; "Analysis"; "Argument". Essayists range from Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Richard Wright, James Agee to Mary McCarthy, Tom Wolfe, William Golding, and Woody Allen.
Youngkin, Betty R.
1995 0-7734-2277-3 156 pages
This volume examines two of Ong's contributions to the study of rhetoric: history and metaphor. His definitive work on Peter Ramus (1515-1572) filled a large gap in the history of rhetoric and established Ramus' work as a pivotal force in the division of the five parts of classical rhetoric. By using "interfaces of the word" as a metaphor for modern rhetoric, Ong reestablished the discipline of rhetoric as essential in all knowledge and communication. The study examines his work on Peter Ramus and analyzes Ong's book Interfaces of the Word and how the metaphor evolved in Ong's early, middle, and late work. Ong's work culminates in a paradigm of human history and consciousness: primary orality, writing, print, and secondary orality, and how rhetoric operates at each interface of these phenomena.
Schultz, Pamela D.
2001 0-7734-7606-7 204 pages
The foundation of this analysis is that child sexual abuse is a form of communication that stems from, and perpetuates, the power hierarchy of the social structure. The study asks the questions: What do the stories of survivors and perpetrators tell us about the nature of child sexual abuse? What do these stories tell us about the power relations between the survivors and perpetrators as well as the society that breeds sexual abuse. It identifies rhetorical strategies and uses them to identify patterns in the discourse of survivors and abusers. The ultimate goal is to analyze the discourse surrounding sexual abuse in an attempt to shift the rhetorical emphasis from misunderstanding and blame to understanding and affirmation.
Patterson, Seymour
2006 0-7734-5906-5 264 pages
This book looks at the disparity in the conversation among economists and politicians of free trade as a paradigm for economic efficiency, in contrast to the practice of trade restrictions around the world, including in countries such as the United States which advocates of free trade. Free trade rhetoric is commonplace. However, what appears to be the goal of advocates is freer trade, because for many reasons countries will always restrict trade. Even major advocates of free trade themselves practice restricted trade, which implicitly must benefit to advocates above the free trade alternative model. Nevertheless, international bodies promote free trade—WTO, EU, NAFTA, CAFTA. But, domestic companies and entities—steel, labor unions—lobby for protection. The study does not argue against free trade. It maintains that the free-trade debate has garnered followers around the world; since 1980s there has been a rush to free trade. The free-trade movement in Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere has to overcome a political–cost-benefit calculus. In the prevailing climate of free-trade promotion, the nuanced argument posited here is less frequently made. The free-trade discussion in this book can engage a wide array of people such as students, businessmen, and politicians.
Borchardt, Frank L.
1990 0-88946-506-1 264 pages
Examines Doomsday predictions as a rhetorical ploy, arguing that assertions regarding the imminent "End of the [or a] World" represent a means of coercion to get others (or the world) to do something or stop doing something. Focuses on (1) the rhetorical dimension of the doom-sayers' predictions, and (2) the special logic of the doom-sayer. Observes how the seemingly outward-directed argument reverts to the self, concluding that predicting doom appears to be objective and to apply to the outside world, but is ultimately subjective, self-serving, and self-centered.
Huffer, Mary Lee Stephenson
2007 0-7734-5282-6 184 pages
This study examines Emily Dickinson’s experiential poetics and her position within and against the changing orthodoxy during the Second Great Awakening, which is best demonstrated by the orthodox sermons of her contemporary, Reverend Dr. Charles Wadsworth. Wadsworth’s published sermons and his “rhetoric of sensation” reflect the characteristics of the changing orthodoxy that arose from the conflict between the liberal Unitarians and the conservative Congregationalists. The tension of knowing and not knowing that existed between these two divergent and convergent faiths created the perfect literary situation in which Dickinson could thrive as a poetic figure. Therefore, this context will shed new light on the study of Dickinson and her work.
Del Guercio, Gerardo
2013 0-7734-4518-8 196 pages
This book shows how abolitionists used rhetoric and discourse, rather than violence, to change opinions about slavery. Books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin incite people to take action and they provoke a sense of urgency about the matter. Less than a decade before an impending civil war the United States enacted the Compromise of 1850, which among other things revived the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 in a more aggravated form. The main stipulation of the law was to impose strict monetary and legal penalties against those who aided the escape or impeded the capture of fugitive slaves. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe urged Americans to break the Fugitive Slave Law and free blacks across America. These are the most important texts from the American Antebellum Era that dealt with slavery and emancipation. This book explores the implications of the Fugitive Slave Law and the impact that these two figures had during that time period in American history. The argument is that Douglass and Stowe used language instead of violence to convince Americans to break the law, and that not all Americans agreed with the law.
Kelly, Columba
2002 0-7734-6872-2 236 pages
With Accompanying CD
This study provides instruction to perform or conduct Gregorian chant in an historically informed way. It provides the reader with a Schenker style analysis of individual chant pieces, identifies the structure pitches of the composition and shows how these are then elaborated by ornamental figures. It also shows, for the first time, how the same creative tradition can be carried on in the English language. A CD with short examples is included with the book. This is the first volume in an exciting new series on Gregorian chant, edited by Father Columba Kelly.
Craig, William Lane
1990 0-88946-369-7 260 pages
Covers three broad areas: religious epistemology, theistic arguments, and God's relationship to human life, value, and the world. Three essays evaluate and extend the recent suggestion that beliefs about God do not need discursive evidence to be held rationally. Four essays take up the contemporary interest in arguments for God's existence. Two consider the Kalam cosmological argument, a third the theological argument and its relationship to the Anthropic principle and a fourth develops an epistemological argument for God's existence. The remaining five essays consider the doctrine of God's providence, the meaning of life, the Euthyphro dilemma, the nature of death, and virtue theory.
Gardner, Thomas N.
2010 0-7734-4683-4 484 pages
This work presents a case study of journalism as persuasion through a triangulated examination of ABC 20/20’s story “Hollywood’s Unlikely Hero” (December 1998), which reports on the death penalty case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The methodology includes rhetorical analysis, experimental design, and focus group audience research. It also examines the impact of a media literacy intervention on news reception by showing the video “Framing an Execution: the Media and Mumia Abu-Jamal” and measuring its effects on audience perceptions of the 20/20 story.
Each book includes a DVD copy of the “Framing an Execution: the Media and Mumia Abu-Jamal”.
Saw, Insawn
1995 0-7734-2351-6 336 pages
This study provides a comprehensive and detailed rhetorical analysis with regard to invention, arrangement, and style. Despite the forensic structure of Paul's arrangement, I Corinthians 15 is best understood as a piece of deliberative discourse.
Campbell, Danny C.
2002 0-7734-6856-0 224 pages
Studies early 17th century dramatic themes, characters, and rhetoric in relation to recent advances made in understanding Milton, Machiavelli, and political theory in general as it developed after Elizabeth I’s death. It provides a vital and long-neglected connection between the revenge drama so popular after Elizabeth’s death and the political atmosphere of dissent that led to Charles I’s beheading.
Blattenberger, David
1997 0-7734-8562-7 104 pages
". . . a genuine contribution to research. The cultural practice which Paul recommends here has bedeviled interpreters for years, and thus further investigation is warranted, especially since we now have the capability to search Greek literature in a comprehensive way through computer analysis. Blattenberger argues that the custom in view is not veiling nor does Paul demand the wearing of a shawl when women pray or prophesy. The cultural practice in view relates, says Blattenberger, to the way a woman wears her hair . . . . Blattenberger has made a good case for his proposal, and his evidence must be seriously considered by scholars in identifying the practice commanded in 1 Cor. 11:2-16." - Thomas R. Schreiner ". . . provides a discussion of important issues that many will find significant for their own work in this area." - E. Earle Ellis
Aarons, Victoria
1991 0-88946-212-7 220 pages
Addresses the classical connection between rhetoric and ethics, its fragmentation during the 17th century, and the reunification of rhetoric and ethics in the 20th century. Includes such essays as "Platonic Rhetoric" by Charles Salman, "Persons, Personae, and Ghost Writing: Ethics and Fictive Voice" by George E. Yoos, "Stance Perception in Sixteenth-Century Ethical Discourse" by Lawrence D. Green, and "Differences That Unite Us: John Kennedy's Speech to the Houston Ministerial Association" by Frederick J. Antczak.
Martin, Thomas F.
2001 0-7734-7535-4 276 pages
This study makes a three-fold contribution to scholarship. On a general level, it demonstrates the impact of rhetorical culture on early Christian approaches to the Bible. It also demonstrates how Augustine’s interpretation of Paul was shaped by a ‘persuasive’ rhetorical milieu. Finally, it shows the history of a critical text (roman’s 7:24-25a) that Augustine employs from first to final writings. As such, it provides a lens for viewing and interpreting his theological and exegetical development over the course of his career.
Blow, Suzanne
1972 0-7734-0440-6 137 pages
Bryant, David S.
1993 0-7734-9344-1 200 pages
This study proposes an overall interpretation based on an analysis of three constants. First, Maupassant accepts that man lives in an objective, contingent world in which he has no purpose, and elevates the notion of chance into an explanation of the human condition. Secondly, this awareness explains the adoption of a view of the world as farce. Thirdly, in order to shape and mitigate the consequences of these positions, Maupassant elaborates a rhetoric of pessimism and strategies of containment. This triple approach enables Maupassant to rise above the evidence of his experience and gives the reader access to a work that otherwise might appear inconsequential and disparate. Maupassant's three hundred and six short stories represent a unified series of variations on three constants and offer a coherent, tightly structured response to a very personal dilemma that nevertheless has universal application.
Burton, Keith A.
2001 0-7734-7708-X 192 pages
Many have come to the conclusion that Romans 7: 1-6 indicates a deficiency in Paul’s ability to construct a coherent argument. This study suggests that interpretive problems will be eliminated if the pericope is approached with the right methods. Romans 7: 1-6, examined as a rhetorical treatise, is a paradeigmatic argument which is both structurally and logically coherent. A full understanding also demands a re-evaluation of the meaning and reference of ‘law’ in Romans. Utilizing semantic analyses, Burton suggest that ‘law’ most often refers to the Decalogue. In this pericope, Paul demonstrates how a sinful individual who is condemned by law is transformed to a spiritual individual who is commended by law.
Walton, Jennifer L.
2008 0-7734-5080-7 144 pages
This study provides a rhetorical criticism of movies about national politics, with a primary focus on the value judgments, political consciousness and political implications surrounding the films Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Candidate (1972), The Contender (2000), Wag the Dog (1997), Power (1986), and Primary Colors (1998).
Roy, Jody M.
1999 0-7734-7908-2 228 pages
This study explores answers to the following questions: 1) how did anti-Catholic rhetors make the alleged threat of a Catholic conspiracy against American liberty so persuasive that it could sustain an active movement from the 1830s-1850s? and 2) how did Catholic leaders construct and justify their response strategies and what did those strategies tell Catholics, and all American, that it meant to be a Catholic American? “Anybody who wants to understand Anti-Catholicism, Catholicism, and how the two shaped and were shaped by America needs to read this book.” – Gary Hiebsch
Martin, Terry J.
1998 0-7734-8240-7 120 pages
This study analyzes an innovative rhetorical strategy employed in certain of the most challenging and frequently misunderstood stories of the American Renaissance, including ‘Young Goodman Brown,’ ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ and ‘Benito Cereno.’ In these stories, the reader is rhetorically beguiled into sharing the point of view of a character who is self-deluded and implicated in crime, yet whose true nature is never explicitly revealed, except through the works’ latent symbolic structure. Although the study draws on the insights of previous scholarship, it seeks to offer original readings of these stories, identifying them as a significant sub-genre of the modern short story.
LaCure, Jon
1997 0-7734-8510-4 224 pages
This monograph deals with the unique rhetorical devices of Japanese waka poetry through an exhaustive analysis of the first and most important of the Japanese imperial anthologies, the Kokinshu» (compiled 905 AD). The chapters are organized around the poetic devices, including kakekotoba (conventionalized puns, usually translated as 'pivot words'), makurakotoba (set phrases or epigraphs, usually translated as 'pillow words'), joshi (introductory phrases of varied length), and utamakura (famous places names, literally 'poem pillows'). The analysis presented here uses a new kind of descriptive model which defines and classifies these rhetorical devices as structural elements in the poetry. Because the approach is exhaustive, a romanized index to the Kokinshû is included as an appendix.
Fleser, Arthur
1990 0-88946-321-2 134 pages
Calvin Coolidge participated in 15 inaugurals, ran for over 30 elective offices. His speaking contributed to his success and mirrored the conservative mind of his age. Although more flexible than strong, Coolidge was able to impress many as a man of action and conviction. Although he seldom used humor, he knew how to prepare a speech with clearly defined divisions, balanced sentences, and flowing phrases. He usually talked in soothing generalities on the virtues of the Republican Party, the principles of constitutional government, and love of God and country. He organized his material chronologically and often supported his propositions with historical examples. His was primarily a ceremonial rhetoric, never a rhetoric of reform.
Sharpling, Gerard P.
2002 0-7734-6862-5 244 pages
Merrill, Yvonne D.
1996 0-7734-8851-0 284 pages
This volume examines the rhetorical strategies used by Sappho, Christine de Pizan, Lady Elizabeth Cary, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to speak for the female experience. These women became autonomous subjects of discourse by adapting the language of the dominant Western tradition to speak from the position of women. The introduction explains the epistemological reasons why social constructionism is the critical lens for this analysis. Discussion chapters treat the rhetorical context in which each woman wrote, including a discussion of Aristotelian misogyny; the ways each woman justified her authorial voice to express peculiarly female experience; and the rhetorical choices each made at the register, genre, and discourse levels, which reveal their degree of authorial confidence. The conclusion illustrates how they spoke from the margins of male experience by becoming culturally multilingual.
de Waal, Kayle Brendan
2012 0-7734-2567-5 332 pages
An innovative biblical study that focuses on the idea of social and ideological “markers” when interpreting the text surrounding the seven trumpets found in the Book of Revelation. It is the first study to give a detailed explanation of these trumpets and what they symbolize in Revelation.
Boehnlein, James M.
1994 0-7734-9136-8 172 pages
The documentary reportage by Meridel Le Sueur of the 1930s was especially timely, for it demonstrated the disenfranchisement of the lower classes and of women while provoking a commitment to a new order. This study assesses Le Sueur's use of sociocognitive rhetoric as it renegotiated gender and class issues in a language of immediacy and transcendence. Drawing upon the contributions of Social Construction theories of rhetoric, this study offers concrete and inductive ways by which Le Sueur's feminist discourse ethic privileges the cultural situatedness of language.
Mehrabian, Houman
2024 1-4955-1196-0 176 pages
"In this book, I draw insights from textbooks in the history of rhetoric to analyze the diverse applications of amplification, with a specific emphasis on the rhetorical figures of meiosis and paradiastole. I investigate the mechanism and relevance of these applications in the context of William Shakespeare's tragedies, illustrating how Shakespeare dramatizes his understanding of these rhetorical strategies through plot and character." -Dr. Houman Mehrabian
Borkowski, David
2008 0-7734-5130-7 400 pages
This study deals with the impact “The Sixties” had on writing instruction, particularly how expressivism as composition pedagogy emerged out of the reassessment of traditional schools of writing. The investigation explores the historical context that sparked contemporary expressivism and traces its trajectory through that turbulent era, including how overall educational reform initiatives also grew out of that period’s social movements, especially the Civil Rights Movement.
The Rhetorical Purpose and the Political and Military Character of Philippians: A Call to Stand Firm
Geoffrion, Timothy C.1993 0-7734-2374-5 280 pages
Argues that Paul wrote Philippians in order to encourage the Christians in Philippi to remain steadfast in their commitment to Christ and the Gospel ministry and to show them how to do so. To organize the letter and accomplish his hortatory purpose, Paul drew upon the conventions of ancient deliberative rhetoric and utilized political topoi, terminology, and concepts to portray and reinforce corporate Christian identity as "heavenly citizenship".
Matheson, Ann
1995 0-7734-9413-8 308 pages
This study pays particular attention to trends in the light of the contemporary interest in the study of rhetoric and belles lettres in Scotland during the period of the Enlightenment. Topics covered include contemporary attitudes to the 18th-century Scottish sermon; training in rhetoric in Scotland; printed theories of pulpit rhetoric; the reflection of current literary trends; and links to contemporary developments in the fields of elocution, drama and literature.
Nunes, Pedro
2004 0-7734-6350-X 432 pages
This two-volume book contains an introduction to the rhetorical theories put forward by the most important ancient Greek rhetoricians, followed by a modern English translation of the Latin version of their commentaries in Hermogenes’ seminal work on stasis-theory, the basis for writing any sort of speech for a law-court or for public use. Rhetoric today is extremely important in public life, as any politician’s speech-writer knows, and the work by Syrianus, Sopater and Marcellinus translated in this book remain the foundations on which all theories of public speaking are built. When Pedro Nunes translated the original texts, no doubt from the recently published Aldine text, he was lecturing to the brightest young law students in Lisbon in the 16th century. It is unique in that in Europe at that time all other works on rhetoric were based on Cicero and Quintilian. The modern English translation will be of great use for students, as it will give them access to the basic theories of speech-writing, well exemplified with plenty of apposite quotations from leading Greek orators, especially Demosthenes, and from major events in Greek history. This version contains the original Latin as well as the English translation.
Nunes, Pedro
2004 0-7734-6506-5 336 pages
This two-volume book contains an introduction to the rhetorical theories put forward by the most important ancient Greek rhetoricians, followed by a modern English translation of the Latin version of their commentaries in Hermogenes’ seminal work on stasis-theory, the basis for writing any sort of speech for a law-court or for public use. Rhetoric today is extremely important in public life, as any politician’s speech-writer knows, and the work by Syrianus, Sopater and Marcellinus translated in this book remain the foundations on which all theories of public speaking are built. When Pedro Nunes translated the original texts, no doubt from the recently published Aldine text, he was lecturing to the brightest young law students in Lisbon in the 16th century. It is unique in that in Europe at that time all other works on rhetoric were based on Cicero and Quintilian. The modern English translation will be of great use for students, as it will give them access to the basic theories of speech-writing, well exemplified with plenty of apposite quotations from leading Greek orators, especially Demosthenes, and from major events in Greek history. This version contains the original Latin as well as the English translation.
Ristau, Harold
2010 0-7734-3724-X 572 pages
Martin Luther’s rhetoric of the demonic in his treatise Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments (1525) expresses a soteriological argument regarding the necessary relation between the two realms of faith and works, which he reformulates as the proper relationship between justification and sanctification. This book builds upon the revisionist approaches of interdisciplinary studies by applying the concerns of rhetoric and linguistics as new tools of research in the field of Reformation Studies.