Puritan rhetoric presentation
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Transcript of Puritan rhetoric presentation
How to read RHETORIC
What is RHETORIC
Cicero, ancient Roman orator
Art of using language effectively, persuasively, and ethically
Rhetoric is literally figures of speech
Figurative use of language
(As opposed to literal meaning)
Eye of the stormButterflies in my stomachOn the Clock
Feel like a million bucks
Click on the images
Tree huggers
What a nut
Hit the sack
Patterns of language:
VocabularyImages
Figures of speechAllusions
Storytelling methodsMeans of persuasion
Style
Where is RHETORIC
EVERYWHERE
Why RHETORIC
Effective
Toni Morrison, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 1993
StrategicWinston Churchill, British Prime Minister 1940-45 &
1951-55
To develop a built-in lie detector
Lie True
Dubious LogicalStrawman
Fact-basedBias
Reliab
le
source
sRed herring
FairGeneralization
Avoid fallacies
There’s an ethical way to communicate…
Beg the questionEither/or
False analogy
Ad hominem Non sequiturRed herringStrawman
Sweeping generalization
Why study the RHETORIC of the
Puritans
Puritans Say the Darndest Things
vast and howling wilderness
perjured chosen
Devilauthority
article
promise
providence
covenant Israellight
Heathenmembers of the same
bodyelect
scourge
special commision
God’s peoplea people
in Christ
reliance
upon a hill
Sumptuary Laws
John Donne, 17th century English Metaphysical poet
Click images for links to audio recordings of poems
Anne Bradstreet, 17th century New England Puritan poet
Early Puritan RHETORIC
John Winthrop, 1st governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company
“A Model of Christian Charity”Sermon delivered on the Arbella
God’s elect
Marriage between God and Puritans
contract :special commission
covenant with articles
to be ratified
we become a perjured people
and prosecute our carnal (non-spiritual) intentions
for breach of such a covenant
If we fail
Legal
Let’s analyze the rhetoric
IsraelitesPuritans
Puritans Israelites
Totally reliant on God’s direct commands
Father/child
Obedience
Breach of covenant = disobedience
Self-reliance – must interpret God’s will
Marriage
Personal responsibility
Breach of covenant = perjury
Both
Must maintain single communal will (“one body”)
Terrible risks involved (“God’s wrath”)
Enormous spiritual errand (“God’s will”)
Story in the making
As a city upon a hill
Our Fathers wrung their bread from stocks and stones And fenced their gardens with the Redman's bones; Embarking from the Nether Land of Holland, Pilgrims unhouseled by Geneva's night, They planted here the Serpent's seeds of light; And here the pivoting searchlights probe to shock The riotous glass houses built on rock, And candles gutter by an empty altar, And light is where the landless blood of Cain Is burning, burning the unburied grain .
Children of Light
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