The contributors to this volume are all reputable scholars in the field of rhetoric and communication theory. They uncover underlying rhetorical strategies in sermons preached by well-known pulpiteers in the United States toward the end of the twentieth and first part of the twenty-first centuries. They are to be applauded for their efforts not to discard the sermon as a critical rhetorical form that has profound influence in the public square. . . . Overall, this book should generate more interest in investigating the powerful influence the Protestant sermon has had on religion and politics in both the public and private sphere. As Miller says in the introduction, we want to “revitalize pulpit rhetoric as an object of critical inquiry”; “Perhaps more than any other rhetorical genre, it shapes worldviews, reinforces values, and informs the civic practice of millions of citizens” (xvii–xviii).
