Rhetoric of the Protestant Sermon in America: Pulpit Discourse at the Turn of the Millennium

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In Rhetoric of the Protestant Sermon in America: The Pulpit at the Turn of the Millennium, ten scholars analyze notable sermons from the fifty-year span between 1965 and 2015, during which the Protestant sermon has undergone significant change in the United States. Contributors examine how this turbulent time period witnessed a variety of important shifts in the arguments, evidences, and rhetorical strategies employed by contemporary preachers. Because religious practice is inextricably tangled in the culture, politics, and economy of its historical situation, the public expression of a faith is certain to move with the times. In their treatment of race, sex, gender, class, and citizenship, sermons apply ancient texts to current events and controversies, often to revealing effect. This collection, thoughtfully edited by Eric C. Miller and Jonathan J. Edwards, demonstrates how the genre of the Protestant sermon has evolvedor resisted evolutionacross the years. Scholars of religion, rhetoric, communication, sociology, and cultural studies will find this book particularly useful.

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Delighting the reader with the predictablethe Puritans and Jerry Falwelland the unexpectedNadia Bolz-Weber and Otis Moss III, EricC. Miller and Jonathan J. Edwards have curated nine ground-breaking essays that introduce fresh critiques of American preaching and preachers. Rhetoric of the Protestant Sermon in America: The Pulpit at the Turn of the Millennium is worthy of attention from scholar-practitioners of rhetoric and homiletics alike. Bravo to Miller and Edwards for this exceptional edited volume from provocative intellectuals. -- Daniel S. Brown Jr., Grove City College

Author Bio

Eric C. Miller is associate professor of communication studies at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Jonathan J. Edwards is senior instructor of speech communication and rhetoric at the University of South Carolina.