What is it about the rhetoric of one the most influential and powerful religious leaders in the world and in history—Pope Francis—that is so engaging and yet so challenging to the Church writ large, the American Congress, the news media, and the world? The Rhetoric of Pope Francis: Critical Mercy and Conversion for the Twenty-first Century provides extensive insight into this question through a close, in-depth rhetorical analysis of Pope Francis’s visual, spatial, tactile, written, and oral discourse. This analysis reveals how the interrelated topoi of illness, space, mercy, and conversion converge to articulate Francis’s vision for the Church. Under Francis, the Catholic Church’s virtue of mercy gets renewed and redeployed to papal, pastoral, and political sites for the purpose of conversion. Each chapter identifies several of Francis’s dominant rhetorical strategies. These “pope tropes” take the form of existing and widely held Catholic beliefs that, while stable, still invite interpretation, disputation, and open dialogue. Studying Francis’s various discourses provides us with an exemplary paradigm from which we can learn much about faith, humility, love, and papal rhetoric’s transformative capacity to help us live more compassionate lives.

Understanding Pope Francis: Message, Media, andAudienceoffers several chapters which illuminate the often misunderstood, but widely discussed, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis. With 1.3 billion baptized members living throughout every continent, communication by and about him is a subject deserving to be understood. As technology makes the “global village” predicted by Marshall McLuhan more apparent, the complexities of leading an organization across geographic boundaries with differing ideas about culture and governance present great need to be nuanced, indeed cautious, about messages communicated across diverse media platforms and consumed by divergent audiences. This book lays bare the messages Pope Francis produces, the way that varying platforms/media present those messages, and the complex ways in which audiences formulate their interpretations.

"Collection of essays that reassesses history as rhetoric and rhetorical history as practice "--

Water, Rhetoric, and Social Justice: A Critical Confluenceexamines how individuals and communities have responded on a global scale to present day water crises as matters of social justice, through oratory, mass demonstration, deliberation, testimony, and other rhetorical appeals. This book applies critical communication methods and perspectives to interrogate the pressing yet mind-boggling dilemma currently faced in environmental studies and policy: that clean water, the very stuff of life, which flows freely from the tap in affluent areas, is also denied to huge populations, materially and fluidly exemplifying the currents of justice, liberty, and equity. Contributors highlight discourse and water justice movements in nonofficial spheres from activists, artists, and the grassroots. In extending the technical, economic, moral, and political conversations on water justice, this collection applies special focus on the novel rhetorical concepts and responses not necessarily unique to but especially enacted in water justice situations. Scholars of rhetoric, sociology, activism, communication, and environmental studies will find this book particularly useful.

This book explores the political dimension of Pope Francis’ theology from a variety of perspectives and makes a unique contribution to the ongoing historiography of his pontificate. It defines the concept of political theology when applied to Pope Francis’ discourse and reflects on the portrayal of him as the voice of Latin America, a great reformer and a revolutionary. The chapters offer a thorough investigation of core texts and key moments in Pope Francis’ papacy (2013-), focusing in particular on their relation to canon theory, liberation theology, the rise of populism, and gender issues. As well as documenting some of the continuities between the ideas of Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI, the author asks what the Argentinian pontiff has brought from Latin America and considers the Latin American dimension to what has become known as the ‘Francis effect’. Overall, the book demonstrates how the Pope’s words and actions constitute a powerful political theology disseminated from a unique religious and institutional position. It will be of interest to scholars of theology, religion, and politics, particularly those with a focus on world Catholicism, political theology, and church history.

**A Glitch in the Mediatrix: The Autobiography of Pope Francis** In "A Glitch in the Mediatrix: The Autobiography of Pope Francis," author Charlie Armstrong Adams offers a probing, no-holds-barred exploration of one of the most intriguing papacies in modern history. Following the unexpected election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2013, Pope Francis emerged as a revolutionary figure—breaking with centuries of tradition as the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas. With promises of reform, humility, and a new vision for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis brought a fresh perspective to an institution often criticized for its rigidity and scandals. This book provides a comprehensive examination of Pope Francis's papacy, challenging the simplistic narratives and hagiographies that have proliferated in the media. It delves deep into his early life, his rise within the Jesuit order, and the pivotal moments that defined his journey to the papal throne. From his groundbreaking reforms and efforts to address corruption within the Church to his complex engagement with global diplomacy and interfaith dialogue, Adams scrutinizes the multifaceted nature of Pope Francis's leadership. In exploring his impact, the book addresses both the commendable and controversial aspects of his tenure. It looks at the significant reforms initiated by Pope Francis, his approach to pastoral care, and his efforts to promote transparency and accountability within the Church. Simultaneously, it tackles the criticisms he has faced, including his stance on social issues, his approach to governance, and the challenges he has encountered both within the Church and on the global stage. "A Glitch in the Mediatrix" is not just an account of a papacy but an invitation to engage with the profound questions of faith, governance, and morality in our time. It challenges readers to reconsider the role of the Catholic Church in the modern world and offers a nuanced perspective on a pontificate that has left an indelible mark on history. This critical examination seeks to unravel the complex layers of Pope Francis’s papal tenure, providing a balanced view that acknowledges both his achievements and his controversies. Join Charlie Armstrong Adams on a journey through the intricate and sometimes tumultuous waters of Pope Francis's papacy, as this book uncovers the truths beneath the surface and seeks to understand the legacy of a pope who has both inspired and divided in equal measure.

The Rhetoric of Antisemitism was prompted by studying the decision of Vatican II (1965) to repudiate antisemitism. A close analysis revealed that the Catholic Church focused on the foundational issue in antisemitism—the charge of eternal guilt whereby Jews are forever guilty of killing Christ. This repudiation of antisemitism came with a rhetorical explanation of this hatred, a perspective rarely explored. In advancing the rhetorical perspective, this book focuses on the initial struggle Christianity experienced with Judaism, intensifying a hatred thereof, and settling on a religious dogma of eternal guilt meant to perpetuate antisemitism for eternity. Kiewe tackles the similar approach Islam has taken in its tension with Judaism and how it was turned centuries later into the Arab-Israeli conflict, significantly with the help of Nazi-antisemitism and propaganda. This volume also discusses the significant rise of antisemitism in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the forgery pamphlet The Protocols of the Elders of Zion that promoted the charge of Jewish world domination, and the more recent Durban Conference (2001) as a major turning point in conflating antisemitism and anti-Zionism, including the linguistic games used to merge antisemitism with anti-Israelism. Finally, in the decision by Vatican II to accept the guilt over antisemitism and seeking its end, both the foundation and a solution to this hatred are evident.

In Tutti Fratelli, Pope Francis has called again for a “culture of encounter,” But how should his theology, pastoral practice, and social message be understood and applied in the Church of the Americas, a single but complex reality that extends from South to North? This volume offers analyses from experts looking back to the Argentine pontiff’s first fateful encuentros in the Americas as a help for understanding the present reality of the Church in the Western Hemisphere. The group includes theologians, historians, and political scientists, and the unique contribution of the volume lies in the panoramic perspective offered by the book as a whole. The initial essays set the stage for the volume as a whole, offering rich insight into Argentine and Latin American history, the world from which the Pope came and to which he returned in 2015, as well as surveying the impact of the Latin American “theology of the people” on the Pope’s visit to the U.S. Additional essays address theological, historical, and pastoral engagements that cut across several of the visits. The final group of essays is dedicated to the visits themselves and is arranged in the order that they occurred. Pope Francis and the Search for God in América is offered to all the members of the Church in América, South and North, old and young, with the hope that it will spur even more thought, reflection, prayer, and service.

This volumes examines the place of classical rhetoric in Augustine's theology. Rather than seeing rhetoric as a matter only of style, the authors examine the argumentative techniques that Augustine would have learned and taught as a professional rhetorician. Essays pay particular attention to the rhetorical practice of invention in order to uncover the ways in which Augustine's thought is not only expressed rhetorically but constructed rhetorically as well. If you want to know what kind of rhetoric Augustine used in the actual practice as a Christian writer and preacher, this volume will answer your question.

The nations of the global north find themselves in a post-secular or post-Christian period, one in which the practice, expression, and effects of religion are undergoing massive shifts. In Persuasions of God, Paul Lynch pursues a project of “theorhetoric,” a radical new approach to speaking about the divine. Searching for new religious forms amid the lingering influence of Christianity, Lynch turns to René Girard, the most important twentieth-century thinker on the sacred and its expression within the Christian tradition. Lynch repurposes Girard’s mimetic theory to invent a post-Christian way of speaking to, for, and especially about God. Girard theorized the sacred as the nexus of violence, order, and sacralization that lies at the heart of religion. What Lynch advocates in our current moment of religious kairos is a paradoxically meek rhetoric that conscientiously refuses rivalry, actively exploits tradition through complicit invention, and boldly seeks a holiness free of exclusionary violence. The project of theorhetoric is to reinvent God through the reimagined themes of meekness, sacrifice, atonement, and holiness. From these, Persuasions of God offers religion reimagined for our post-secular age. An interdisciplinary mix of philosophy, sociology, rhetorical studies, and theology, this book draws on mimetic theory to answer the question of where religion goes next. It will be valued by religious studies and communications scholars as well as anyone interested in the future of Christianity in our modern world.