Some thoughts on rhetoric and the gospel of Jesus Christ
Rhetoric and the Gospel of Jesus Christ I study rhetoric, which is a field much maligned. It is, in common parlance, manipulative, shallow and antithetical to good reasoning. I’m not surprised, but that’s not how I see rhetoric. That’s not how most rhetoricians see it. Rhetoric is a beautiful process by which human beings see other human beings, consider them fully and then “ inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols” (Burke, Rhetoric of Motives 43). This process is absolutely in line with the principles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is, in fact, illuminative of Mormon beliefs. In the first LDS hymnbook, the one that Emma Smith compiled, she included a song called “Know This, That Every Soul Is Free,” presumably because it reflected some of the distinctive doctrines of the recently organized church. The first verse affirms that “God will force no man to heav’n” (hymn number 240) and this concept is indeed ...