Tonight in the Rhetoric and Religion class, I reintroduce the class to Sophistic rhetoric by studying the work of my committee chair, mentor and friend, the late Michael C. Leff. Leff argued that Sophistic rhetoric rejected global generalizations, global theories and synthetic methodologies. It focused on “concrete experiences” and sought to solve situated problems rather than to formulate theoretical principles. In short, it collapsed the dichotomy between theory and practice because theory creation becomes a form of practice. Drawing from that working definition of Sophistic rhetoric, I call for a Sophistic understanding of God. I hope to demonstrate to the class that while a sophistic understanding of God does not debate whether God exists, it does see God as a rhetorical construction of humans. Therefore, it debates the nature, character, and role of God in the lives of humankind. In short, a Sophistic understanding of God understands that the role God performs in public is rhetorical construction thereby giving license to challenge and critique previous rhetorical constructions of God. Let’s see how it goes…..
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:31:53 +0000
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