Rhetoric In Christian Europe

The most significant aspect of this reading deals with the evolving role of rhetoric as the Roman Empire transforms into medieval Europe. Interestingly, the new Christian leaders were very wary of the Greco-Roman classical teachings, mainly due to the pagan beliefs of the cultures, the lack of trust the Christians had in Roman tradition (Romans were known for persecuting Christians), and the deceptive nature of Second Sophistic rhetoric (which was prominent in Roman culture). However, the Christian Church still employed rhetoric in the curricula of their schools, albeit with significant fragmentation. The example the author gives deals with sententiae which were small excerpts from classical teachers such as Aristotle (whom the Church adored), and Plato (not so much). This method of teaching, which was part of a scholastic education, was very good for some reasons and very  bad for others. On one hand, it was very structured and promoted utilitarian rhetorical skills. On the other hand, the students were merely receiving a portion of the philosophers sentiments in sententiae, and therefore could never completely comprehend the message

Additionally, with the adaptions of rhetoric to the new Christian Church arises new modes of rhetoric which were previously overlooked. The three main modes of rhetoric we see in the Church are the arts of preaching, letter writing, and poetry. From the art of preaching, we see the preachers need to adapt a thickly-laden book to a mostly illiterate audience in order to persuade them with moral messages or to teach them of the bible’s important messages. The letter writing rhetoric is particularly interesting as the rhetoric is in the detail. The structure of the narrative, the poetic verse, and even the messengers performance when reciting the letter to the recipient all play crucial roles in the persuasive factors of this mode.