Rhetoric on Rhetoric
In our church’s academy, we are attempting to restore the medieval system of education. Our methodology follows the Trivium, and we teach some unique courses including Latin, Logic, and Rhetoric. At this year’s conclusion, our academy will have students who have completed three years of Latin, students who have formally studied Logic, and students who have taken two years of Rhetoric. The teaching of Logic and Rhetoric currently falls on myself, a task that I thoroughly enjoy.
Having spent two years teaching first year Rhetoric and one year teaching second year Rhetoric, I have grown to admire the subject, to appreciate its right use, and to desire its promotion, especially among the people of God. It is my humble opinion that believers would do well to study the subject and to excel at its use. As one rhetorician has said, God’s people must be people of the Word, and that means they must also be people of words.
The Psalmist prayed, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. Acceptable words are not merely sin-free words. Acceptable words are rich words, beautiful words, effective words. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. We are in a war, and words are our weapons.
Which brings me to the point of all this. On introducing this blog, I told of my plan to familiarize the rest of you with Mormonism. Allow me to add another emphasis for these pages. This blog will attempt to share some of what rhetoric has to say about the right use of words. Hopefully, it will offer help to the "rhetorically challenged", and, with a little help from the Logos, it will give the reader a practical understanding of this important subject and how it applies to our speaking and writing.
posted by Dave Mallinak at
11:43 AM
9 Comments:
Looking forward to it. Maybe I can learn something.
Impersonating baby bird in nest: feed me.
Being the queen of slang and street lingo, guess I'm in trouble :0)
You mention the importance of WORDS. I know that you understand this, but I did not always, neither do many of today’s religious leaders. My father did not understand this, even ‘til the day he died. He was a pastor, and a God fearing man, but he believed and taught “Plenary Inspiration.” Today plenary inspiration is defined on the web site of his denomination. It is, they say, that God watched over the writers of the book and made sure that there were no errors in their ideas.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned in Bible School was that God places great emphasis on words. As I read my Bible I began to see the difference between plenary and verbal inspiration. Phrases such as “Diminish not a word” (Jer. 26:2), and “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89), “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” Matthew 24:35, and many other similar statements began to hammer at my heart and mind. It finally sank in that the words of the Bible had to be accurate, each and every one of them, or God had failed to give us the message He intended for His word to say.
Thank God that He has given us, through the office of the Holy Ghost, a book I can hold in my hand and know that it is word for word the very word of God. Even the best rhetoric in the land is built upon a foundation of sand if the individual words of that foundation are not trustworthy.
True, but to that add this: the best rhetoric in the land is the very Word of God. God's Word is Rhetoric. It shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that which God pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto God sends it. It is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is bread, and it is water. It is ox goads and tent pegs. It is eternal and settled. It is perfect, converting the soul. It is more to be desired than gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. As good imitators of God, we must master rhetoric.
Would it be fair to say that rhetoric is the presentation of ideas so as to persuade through the use of logic and emotion?
I didn't realize there were different definitions of "plenary." The word "plenary" means "full." Verbal plenary inspiration not only means God gave the words, but He inspired ALL of them - and maybe we can use it in reference to preservation: ie. we have all the words, the full canon of Scripture preserved for us - not one word lost.
* Jerry Bouey said: "Verbal plenary inspiration not only means God gave the words, but He inspired ALL of them."
* You are correct. However, there are church organizations that leave out the "verbal" portion. In reality, they actually say that inspiration is the process where the writers wrote down their beliefs and the Holy Spirit corrected them when their thought went wrong. This usually goes along with the idea that the "common man" cannot understand Scripture by himself, but must have a trained pastor or instructor to interpret it for him. The indifference
that my father treated my understanding of Scripture, all because I had never taken a course in Hermaneutics, was dumbfounding.
* And he was by no means alone. Some of the same attitude shows through in the writings of Merrill Unger. Not surprising, as they both graduated from the same Bible school and knew each other.
* But even more surprising, I found the same attitude in reading "Things to Come" by Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost. Not only was this the apparent attitude, but it was prevalent in the extensive quotes he gives of scholars who preceeded him.
* As I understand it, true rhetoric is the use of facts and logic to help even the least educated to understand and embrace the truth. If the Bible is not for the "common man", or as someone put it, the ploughboy, then rhetoric in Scripture is of no value except for the highly educated "divines". The rest of us can exist off the crumbs that drop from the table of the spiritual elite.
Joel, in later posts I will be discussing the definitions and meanings associated with rhetoric. I will also discuss rhetoric's relationship to logic, to emotions, and to persuasion. But for right now, I will give you a simple definition (or perhaps a working definition). Rhetoric is the art of speaking clearly and effectively. (Yes, I borrowed that definition).
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home