Help Received: The History and Theory of Rhetoric, Bibme.com, spellcheck.
It’s very intriguing to note the great contrast between in the attitude towards rhetoric in the Church from the days of the Roman Empire to today. According to Herrick, rhetoric was viewed as a pagan Roman practice, manipulative and sneaky as it was sinful. In fact, the entire chapter narrates the slow and difficult incorporation of rhetoric into church functions, most visibly through the efforts of St. Augustine of Hippo. While the church leadership in the early days despised the theatrical displays of traditional Roman rhetoric (which Augustine says paid “…little or no attention to substance”)(Herrick, 2005), today’s Christian religious scene actually leans toward such ornamentation and style in order to make their message more appealing to outsiders. To consider the Protestant church of this century, there are many examples of such rhetoric. Praise bands, monstrous venues (such as megachurches), emotional sermons and responses, large displays of hand motions, and other such functions are common in the Protestant Church today, which is a far cry from the much more conservative parent Catholic Church of post-Roman times. It would seem that the Protestant Church’s trust in the ability of the truth of God alone to convert sinners has morphed into the belief that Christians should do all within their power to make the gospel seem more attractive to outsiders, because they tools used by God to draw others to him.
Works Cited
Herrick, James A. The history and theory of rhetoric: an introduction. Routledge, 2005.
