Rhetorical Preaching - Studies on Rhetoric, Homiletics & Preaching (Broché)

The goal of this book is to demonstrate that sermons are "rhetorical" speeches by nature. The simplest argument is that it would be difficult to imagine a sermon without intent, and all intentional speeches are rhetorical by definition. This work focuses on the fact that rhetoric, as the intrinsic cohesive power of speech, is not a question of form, style or presentation but a practical skill based on "common sense" that produces effective speech in the most optimal way possible.
What is the difference between rhetoric and "rhetorical"? It is a difficult question indeed. There are many associative and emotional meanings linked to the word "rhetoric", which make any dialogue about it difficult : there is always the concern that the same word implies different meanings for various individuals. The texts examined throughout the book, however, all point into one direction : going back as far as the Apostle Paul, all theologians and ho-mileticists who argued against rhetoric did, in fact, build their arguments rhetorically, which seems to prove our initial argument and demonstrate the fact that every sermon has a rhetorical intent.