Beyond the Emergence of Rhetorical Agency

BEYOND THE EMERGENCE OF RHETORICAL AGENCY:

OPERATION RESCUE AND THE FUNCTION OF PROPHETIC AGENCY

A Thesis

Presented to the faculty of the Department of Communication Studies

California State University, Sacramento

Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Communication Studies

Alfredo Marin

SPRING 2019

Alfredo Marin

BEYOND THE EMERGENCE OF RHETORICAL AGENCY:

OPERATION RESCUE AND THE FUNCTION OF PROPHETIC AGENCY

A Thesis

Alfredo Marin

Approved by:

______, Committee Chair Mark A. E. Williams, Ph.D.

______, Second Reader Christine Miller, Ph.D.

______, Third Reader John L. Williams, Ph.D.

______Date

iii

Student: Alfredo Marin

I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis.

______, Graduate Coordinator ______Shawna Malvini Redden, Ph.D. Date

Department of Communication Studies

Abstract

BEYOND THE EMERGENCE OF RHETORICAL AGENCY:

OPERATION RESCUE AND THE FUNCTION OF PROPHETIC AGENCY

Alfredo Marin

This thesis analyzes the rhetoric of Operation Rescue, the Christian pro-life activist organization, within the theoretical framework of Kenneth Burke’s Logology. With the intent to answer the research question: How does rhetorical agency interrelate to the function of the rhetor’s message, this thesis considers the critical lens of metaphor and analogy to inform us about the emerging nature, function, and implication of prophetic agency within a religious context.

______, Committee Chair Mark A. E. Williams, Ph.D.

______Date

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I began this journey during a difficult time in my life. I thank God for His grace and for the people He has placed in my life. It is those amazing people that I wish to acknowledge. First, I want to express my love and devotion to my beautiful wife Karina, and my wonderful children, Ryan, Josiah (R.I.P.), Marshall and Molly, Nathan, Maria,

Andrea, and Victor. You are my heroes. It is the love we share that carries me through each day.

I want to give my utmost appreciation to my Chair, Dr. Mark Williams for his interest in this study and for keeping me focused on the task at hand. Dr. Williams, your knowledge and guidance were vital to the completion of this study. Thank you, Dr. John

Williams, for agreeing to sit on my committee. Your insight is greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Dr. Miller, for your willingness to join the committee late into the process, and for the effort and contribution you made as a second reader.

I also want to give my appreciation to other influencers that I have found to be encouragers and role models throughout my academic endeavor. My thanks to Professor

Kristin Cullivan (American River College), Professor, Paul Duax (American River

College), Louise Kronick (American River College - DSP&S), Dr. Robert Snowden

(California State University Sacramento), Dr. Michele Foss-Snowden (California State

University Sacramento), Dr. Jacqueline Irwin (California State University Sacramento),

Dr. Mark Stoner (California State University Sacramento), Dr. Diego Bonilla (California

State University Sacramento), and the late Dr. Nick Trujillo (California State University

Sacramento). vi

A heartfelt thank you to some of the most incredible, and loving people in my life. I want to express my gratitude to Paul Zimny, Linda Infante, Carl Woodard, Jeff and Laurie Jennings, and Dr. Mark and Kelli Moore, J. Carlos Gutierrez, Ron Norman,

Savannah Hanks, Nusha Tavakolian, Sarah White, Spencer Meacham, Ricardo Sanchez,

Dean Antonis, Keith Fretty, and (mama) Mia Stageberg.

A very special thank you to Paul Lucia. I am blessed to call you my friend, my best man, and my brother. I cannot express to you what your encouragement and moral support have meant to me throughout the years.

Lastly, I want to thank the late Alfredo and Maria Marin, my father and mother.

Thank you for your courage in coming to this country in hopes of a better future for your children and your children’s children. I love and miss you both.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgments...... vi

List of Tables ...... xi

List of Figures ...... xii

Chapter

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

General Context ...... 2

A Brief History of Operation Rescue...... 7

Division within the Christian community ...... 10

The use of graphic images in the pro-life movement ...... 12

A transition in approach to Operation Rescue’s pro-life activism ...... 16

The artifact ...... 19

Kenneth Burke ...... 20

Dramatism: A prelude to logology ...... 20

Logology: Theory of human language ...... 22

The first analogy ...... 27

The second analogy ...... 28

The third analogy ...... 29

The fourth analogy ...... 31

The fifth analogy ...... 32

viii

The sixth analogy ...... 33

Methodology: Cluster analysis ...... 34

Outline of the project ...... 40

2. ANALYSIS ...... 42

Description of the Artifact ...... 42

Section one ...... 45

Section two ...... 48

Section three...... 49

Section four ...... 52

Section five ...... 55

Section six ...... 56

Clusters ...... 57

The abortion cluster ...... 58

The graphic image cluster ...... 58

The exposure cluster ...... 59

The mandate cluster ...... 59

The unborn child cluster ...... 61

The Christian cluster ...... 61

Keyword Indexing ...... 63

Abortion index ...... 64

The prophetic message index ...... 64

The mandate index ...... 65 ix

3. INTERPRETATION ...... 68

The Emergence of Prophetic Agency ...... 68

Beyond Rhetorical Agency ...... 71

Rhetorical agency within the prophetic message index ...... 73

The victimage cycle of terms ...... 74

A juxtaposition of prophetic agency ...... 77

The proclamation ...... 80

The Hierarchical Cycle of Ordered Terms ...... 83

Limitations ...... 88

Conclusion ...... 88

Appendix A. Email Interview ...... 90

Appendix B. The Artifact ...... 92

Appendix C. Pro-life Demonstrators ...... 111

Appendix D Abortion Cluster ...... 112

Appendix E Graphic Image Cluster ...... 118

Appendix F Exposure Cluster ...... 124

Appendix G Mandate Cluster ...... 131

Appendix H Abortion Index ...... 132

Appendix I Prophetic Message Index ...... 138

Appendix J Mandate Index ...... 145

References ...... 148 x

LIST OF TABLES Tables Page

1. Percent of Total Substantive Terms ...... 62

2. Percentage of all Cluster terms ...... 63

LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page

1. Figure 1 Bar graph ...... 51

2. Figure 2 Venn diagram ...... 87

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Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

“Now, Son of Man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her

abominations” (Ezekiel 22:2, NKJV).

One particular Christian organization, whose voice during the late 1980’s to mid-

1990’s helped cultivate a political movement that placed the topic of abortion at the forefront of public debate in America, provides insight into rhetorical agency within the context of religious rhetoric. With a mission-minded resolve motivated by religious conviction, Operation Rescue fueled the rapid growth of the anti-abortion (pro-life) movement (National Review, 1991; Risen & Thomas, 1998). Nonetheless, divisions that have occurred between Operation Rescue and others within the Christian community revolve around Operation Rescue’s methods and approaches to pro-life activism.

Operation Rescue’s early demonstrations consisted of large numbers of pro-life activists converging upon abortion clinics, forming human blockades around clinic entrances, holding up graphic signs, chanting, harassing clinic staff and patients and, at times, attempting to enter clinic premises. Although the strategy of sit-ins (the blocking of abortion clinic entryways) did not originate with Operation Rescue, they were the most successful in generating a great deal of media attention compared to other strategies, like those of John O’Keefe, a Catholic fundamentalist and a pioneer in nonviolent pro-life activism. However, Operation Rescue’s actions have been a subject of contention and internal debate within the Christian community.

This thesis will perform a Burkean cluster analysis of an official Operation

Rescue publication that was designed to justify Operation Rescue strategies, especially regarding the use of graphic images of aborted fetuses during public demonstrations.

The results of the cluster analysis will be interpreted in light of a Burkean logological perspective. This critical review will demonstrate a specific move that positions the rhetor not as one using a prophetic voice as a rhetorical agent of inspiration, but rather as one engaging prophetic agency as the essentializing, authoritative, voice of God. The move, in other words, is from a literary device to literal voice of God. This opening chapter will describe and contextualize the artifact in order to frame the rhetorical problem to be addressed.

General Context

Abortion is not a new topic in religious discourse. As far back as the second century, authoritative pronouncements on abortion were made by Church leaders.

According to Williams (2016), “An ancient Christian text from the early second century called abortion ‘murder’ and equated it with infanticide, and other early Church fathers echoed this teaching” (Kindle Edition, p. 11). Around the year 100, the Epistle of

Barnabas commanded, “Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born” (Barnabas 19: 251). Seventy-seven years later,

Athenagoras used Christian resistance to the violence of abortion and the violence of the arena games in order to argue that such positions are incompatible with the charge of cannibalism which was often leveled against the early Christian community (Ante-

Nicene Fathers, Volume 2).

Clearly, Operation Rescue was hardly the first Christian voice raised in opposition to abortion. That tradition of resistance was also part of American Christian movements. From Francis Kenrick’s declaration in the early 1800s that abortion is always a sin to Francis Schaeffer’s and C. Everett Koop’s 1979 book, Whatever

Happened to the Human Race? abortion was part of the religious discourse in America.

Of course, the topic was not always the center of a culture war. Through the early twentieth century, pro-life advocates pushed state laws to restrict abortions and there were varying degrees of success and emphasis. In the 1973 landmark decision of Roe.

V. Wade (Weddington, 2013), however, the Supreme Court dealt a death blow to the state-by-state strategy and threw the issue of abortion onto the national stage more than ever before.

John O’Keefe, a Catholic pro-life activist, known as The Father of Rescue, adopted the nonviolent tactic of sit-ins, which had been used during the civil rights and

Vietnam War protests of the 60s and early 1970s, to resist the new national issue of abortion rights (Galloway, 1986). Risen and Thomas (1998) stated:

[O’Keefe’s] Washington sit-ins caught the attention of a small band of

demonstrators from Philadelphia led by conservative Catholics Jack O’Brien and

Michael McMonagle. This group had done little more than picketing until

members came to one of O’Keefe’s Washington sit-ins and then took his tactics

home to stage clinic sit-ins of their own. McMonagle later became one of

Randall Terry’s first lieutenants in Operation Rescue and sponsored the group’s

first major act of civil disobedience, a sit-in outside an abortion clinic in the

Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill New Jersey, in November 1987. O’Brien later

took up O’Keefe’s argument that his group was not engaged in symbolic acts—it

was actually saving lives—and used the term rescue to describe the Philadelphia

sit-ins. (p. 67)

In 1977, O’Keefe founded the Pro-Life Nonviolent Action Project, an organization targeting clinics in Washington and New England, as a stage for his sit-in campaigns

(Galloway, 1986). O’Keefe had considerable success recruiting young Catholic activists from several major cities after publishing a pamphlet entitled a Peaceful Presence, in

1978. However, he was able to attract neither activists nor the media coverage that

Randall Terry achieved as the head of Operation Rescue (Davis, 2010; Risen & Thomas,

1998).

O’Keefe’s vision of civil disobedience was at the forefront of concern as new leaders sprang up in the pro-life movement, ratcheting up their rhetoric, using militant methods, with some resorting to violence (Davis, 2010). The new groups, like Operation

Rescue, which adopted and modified O’Keefe’s tactics, stood in contrast to O’Keefe’s concepts of civil disobedience (Steiner, 2006). Toward the end of the 1970’s and into the early 1980’s, Christian Protestantism experienced a resurgence of political influence.

President Reagan’s landslide victory against then-President Jimmy Carter during the

1980 presidential elections exemplified the political potential of the Christian Right.

Reagan’s support of a Human Life Amendment and opposition to federal funding for abortion secured the support of pro-lifers (Williams, 2016).

In the early 1980’s, Joan Andrews was active with several pro-life groups and worked with established pro-life leaders (Haugeberg, 2017). However, she covertly vandalized the abortion clinics in the cities she traveled to during her protest activism.

Andrews gained access to the inside of clinics, where she contaminated and destroyed surgical equipment. Once in, she used a foul-smelling liquid animal repellent, purchased at a hunting supply store, and spread it throughout the building (Haugeberg, 2017; Risen

& Thomas, 1998).

During a Pensacola sit-in, Andrews joined John Burt, a militant activist and regional director of Rescue America in the Pensacola area, and was arrested and convicted for burglary, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest. She was sentenced to five years in prison (Eisenberg, 1993; Haugeberg, 2017). The five-year prison sentence shocked other pro-life activists, rallying them to join the Pensacola sit-in (Haugeberg,

2017). Pensacola became a focal point for media attention, as well as a unifying catalyst for pro-life activists.

With so many pro-life leaders gathering in one place, Randall Terry seized the opportunity to call for a nationwide pro-life campaign (Haugeberg, 2017). According to

Haugeberg (2017):

He [Terry] tied his fledgling organization to Andrews by mobilizing supporters

to participate in ‘Free Joan Andrews’ protests outside the Broward Correctional

Institution. He also organized an aggressive demonstration at the Florida Capitol,

with protesters demanding a clemency hearing for Andrews; 133 of the 300

participants were arrested. (p. 95)

Risen and Thomas (1998) note that, “Terry spoke up just as fundamentalists across the nation were despairing of the failure of President Reagan to follow through on his vow to commit his administration to end abortion” (p. 206). During this time, mainstream pro-life activists were sometimes overshadowed by the violent acts of militant pro-life splinter groups infuriated by the Roe v. Wade decision. According to NARAL (“Anti-

Abortion Violence,” n.d.), between 1993 and 2016, eleven people, including abortion providers, a security guard, and a police officer, are counted as those murdered at the hands of violent anti-abortion extremists.

Although Operation Rescue has maintained they do not condone violence, their rhetoric is often provocative and militaristic. For instance, during an interview with

Rolling Stone magazine columnist Francis Wilkinson in 1989, Terry stated, “If your child or my child were in danger, we would physically intervene, with violence, if necessary, or—I should say—force” (as cited in Wilkinson, 1989, para. 27). Some would argue Operation Rescue’s brazen tactics used in the past (the blocking of clinic entrances; the militaristic rhetoric, verbal abuse, and harassment unleashed on abortion clinic doctors, nurses, and staff; and the sometimes not so loose ties with even more radical anti-abortion groups and individuals) cast a cloud upon Operation Rescue’s claim to non-violent activism. Other Christians frowned on Operation Rescue’s tactics as unlawful.

Operation Rescue, however, quoting from the twenty-fourth chapter of Proverbs and other scripture verses in support of their argument, held the position that breaking the law is justified when the laws of man are unjust and violate the law of God

(CreatedEqualFilms, 2015). Geisler and Howe (1992) objected to this view, arguing that the “only time believers are allowed to disobey the law is when it compels them to sin, not when it permits someone else to sin.” On the other hand, James Dobson, a Christian evangelist, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family radio broadcast and the

Family Research Council (“Family Research Council,” n.d.; “About Focus on the

Family,” n.d.), countered, “It is interesting and a little bit discouraging to me that the

Christian community is struggling over this issue, whether it is right or wrong”

(CreatedEqualFilms, 2015). He went on to present an argument justifying the harassment tactics by comparing the tactics of pro-life activists with those used by allied forces during the liberation of Nazi death camps during World War II. Local townspeople were forced to tour the death camp as a punitive measure, holding them responsible for their indifference to the atrocities (CreatedEqualFilms, 2015). These tensions within the broader Evangelical Church are a crucial backdrop to the Operation

Rescue publication that is the focus of this study.

A Brief History of Operation Rescue

Randall Terry, Operation Rescue’s founder, came onto the pro-life scene in dramatic fashion. On January 8, 1986, Terry and six other activists entered the Southern

Tier Woman’s Center in Binghamton, New York and locked themselves inside in protest against abortion (Steiner, 2006). Terry was a product of the 1970’s counter-cultural

Jesus Movement that evolved into an evangelical surge of youth. Disenchanted with

8 organized religion and the religious institutions of their parents, many of the youth walked away from institutionalized religion and into the pentecostal and charismatic

Christian movement within the United States (Dobbelaere, 1999; Jones, 2016; Roof &

McKinney, 1987).

Following the arguments of Francis Schaffer, a Reformed Presbyterian minister,

Terry became increasingly frustrated with dispensationalism. Dispensationalism is a twentieth century vision that grew out of the early pentecostal movement. It sees a preordained narrative to history, and it is usually accompanied by a belief in the imminent return of Jesus. This teaching frustrated Terry in that he felt it pacified fundamentalist congregations, keeping them from participating in politics (Risen &

Thomas, 1998 see also, Dictionary Christianity in America “Dispensationalism,” 1990).

From the late 1980’s to the mid-1990’s, the voice of Operation Rescue increasingly stood out within the conservative evangelical and Christian Fundamentalist pro-life camp in its call to action, regardless of whether Jesus was coming back tomorrow or not. Risen and Thomas (1998) stated:

Operation Rescue turned what had been a small, ragtag group of easily ignored

protesters into a genuine movement, an aggressive national campaign that put the

anti-abortion cause back onto American’s Page One…. Terry and Operation

Rescue were noticed. Operation Rescue was news because it was “man bites

dog”: right-wingers conducting left-wing style civil disobedience. Operation

Rescue eventually became the biggest social protest movement since the antiwar

and civil rights campaigns of the 1960’s, accomplishing more than sixty

thousand arrests at protests across the nation before it collapsed in the early

1990’s (p. 220)

Operation Rescue’s form of activism captivated a media audience, which captured the attention of evangelical Christians and fundamentalists, propelling the pro-life group’s support. Pro-life activists, willing to undergo arrest and sometimes violent confrontations with law enforcement, grew in numbers (Steiner, 2006).

On November 28, 1987, Terry and approximately 300 Operation Rescue activists converged upon a clinic in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and launched a large-scale demonstration that ended in 210 arrests without any incidence of violence—an accomplishment that captured the attention of fundamentalist Christian ministers and highlighted Terry’s position as a leader within the pro-life movement (Schoen, 2015;

Terry, 1988; Whitehead, 1991).

Terry rallied even higher numbers of activists for his next large-scale protest in

New York. The New York campaign provided Terry and Operation Rescue with even more significant exposure to network news coverage. Like the protest in Cherry Hill, the protesters and the police placed a high priority on keeping the peace, despite approximately 1600 arrests (Wilkinson, 1989). The New York campaign yielded far more support, funding, and prestige for Terry. Local branches of Operation Rescue formed throughout the country (Risen & Thomas, 1998).

Other large-scale protests led by Operation Rescue followed in Philadelphia, then Atlanta. The Atlanta campaign of the summer of 1988, also referred to as The Siege of Atlanta, took advantage of the media attention brought on by the 1988 Democratic

National Convention. Along with the secular media, Terry was also able to take advantage of religious broadcasting, which helped to bolster support for Operation

Rescue (Terry, 1988).

The media attention helped gain Randall Terry celebrity status. Within a year from the Atlanta protest, Terry appeared on CNN’s Crossfire and ABC’s Nightline and

2020 broadcast, and CBS’s 48 Hours news-magazine (Risen & Thomas, 1997;

Wilkinson, 1989).

Division within the Christian community. National media coverage helped to propel Operation Rescue’s stature within the ranks of the pro-life movement.

Endorsements from big-name conservative Christian leaders, like Pat Robinson, Jerry

Falwell, and James Dobson, who had a large religious broadcast audience, fueled

Operation Rescue’s support. Risen and Thomas (1998) recall that, “He [Randall Terry] was interviewed repeatedly on Robinson’s 700 Club, and in November Falwell allowed

Terry to preach to his television audience” (p. 286). Falwell presented Terry with a

$10,000 check to help cover legal expenses incurred by Terry during the Atlanta protest in 1988 (Treadwell, 1988). However, Terry was not able to persuade all the evangelical leaders he targeted.

Within the evangelical ranks, Dr. Charles Stanley, an influential leader and a minister of the Southern Baptist Convention, refused to endorse Terry (Diamond, 1989;

Steiner, 2006). Diamond (1989) notes that, “Stanley issued a statement to the effect that while abortion is ‘an abomination,’ it should be protested by legal means” (p. 92).

Stanley went as far as to publish and distribute a leaflet entitled, “A Biblical Perspective on Civil Disobedience,” criticizing Terry’s approach to pro-life activism (Steiner, 2006).

As the nation drew battle-lines, the Christian community wrestled with their convictions on the issue of abortion, and even among those who agreed that abortion was a sin, there was increasing disagreement about how best to address the issue.

Schoen stated:

By the late 1980s, public opinion was slowly turning against the clinic sit-ins, as

originally favorable media coverage began to focus on the shoving, grabbing,

and screaming matches in front of abortion clinics and journalists depicted OR

[Operation Rescue] members as the victimizers in this struggle. Indeed, the

chaotic events in front of clinics increased the discomfort of more moderate

antiabortion activists, who disliked the emotional tone and cult-like atmosphere

of many of the sit-ins (Kindle Edition, p. 195).

The Christian pro-lifers grappled with the question regarding the tactics of Operation

Rescue and how those tactics translated into the proper Christian response to abortion as

Operation Rescue’s blockades of abortion clinic entrances often produced images of violence and hatred in the media. These tensions about tactics are part of the foundation of Operation Rescue’s later pamphlet justifying its tactics.

The period between 1988 and 1991 was a time of changes in leadership and changes in the momentum of Operation Rescue’s support. Randall Terry stepped down from his leadership role, handing the reins of leadership to Keith Tucci, a gruff

Methodist minister with ties to militant anti-abortion activists. However, Terry would team up with Tucci one more time in 1991 to promote a demonstration in Wichita,

Kansas (Risen & Thomas, 1998).

Randall Terry and Keith Tucci called upon evangelicals throughout America to converge upon the city of Wichita during what Operation Rescue branded “Summer of

Mercy” (Jackson, n.d.; Mapes, 2009; Zhou, 2012). A principal target was the facility run by George Tiller, a doctor and medical director of Women’s Health Care Services, a clinic that provided late-term abortions (Mapes, 2009; Zhou, 2012). Operation Rescue initially succeeded in blocking the entrance of Tiller’s clinic. The blockade came apart when police took a firmer stance, resorting to physical methods of arrest. The campaign ended inside Wichita State University’s football stadium, where 25,000 protesters gathered to hear Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, speak (Risen &

Thomas, 1998). The campaign lasted 46 days and resulted in approximately 2600 arrests

(Terry, 1991). Operation Rescue leaders hailed the Wichita campaign a success. It was the largest demonstration since the 1988 “Siege of Atlanta” campaign (Jackson, n.d.;

Risen & Thomas, 1998).

The use of graphic images in the pro-life movement. Photographs of aborted fetuses, according to Schoen (2015), began to appear in antiabortion publications in the early 1970s. At a Right to Life booth at the Ohio State Fair, Jack and Barbara Wilke

13 discovered the impact graphic images of aborted fetuses have on an audience. Schoen

(2015) stated:

Volunteers had set up literature, bumper stickers, and copies of the Handbook.

When nobody stopped by to look, the volunteers opened a couple of the

Handbooks to the pictures. “And all of a sudden they had people ten feet deep.

They were just mobbing the booth,” Barbara Wilke recalled. The pictures

allowed antiabortion activists to create a discourse of pregnancy termination that

powerfully shaped the perception of pregnancy and pregnancy termination

procedures (p. 73).

The Wilke’s, according to Schoen, collected the photos of aborted fetuses from physicians in both the United States and Canada. The Handbook on Abortion, an antiabortion publication written by the Wilke’s in 1972, included some of those photos of aborted fetuses. The potential effectiveness of the graphic photos as a strategy to trigger an emotional response reverberated throughout the pro-life movement.

With the technological advancement in medical imagery, the pro-life movement made good use of ultrasound to capture images of fetuses. In 1984, the shocking imagery of a recorded abortion became effective propaganda and recruiting tool for the pro-life movement (Risen & Thomas, 1998; Schoen, 2015). A video, produced by former abortion doctor turned pro-life activist, exploited the technological capacity of ultrasound imagery to capture a grainy video of an actual abortion. The film, entitled

The Silent Scream, had far-reaching impact. President Reagan, who endorsed the 1976

Helms Amendment establishing that life begins at conception, praised the movie,

14 suggesting every member of Congress should see the film and end legalized abortion.

The film did make its way to all members of Congress, raising discussion and controversy on Capitol Hill (Schoen, 2015).

The movie ignited a firestorm of emotion on the part of pro-life activists. After viewing The Silent Scream, Matthew Goldsby and James Simmons carried out the bombings of the three abortion clinics located in Pensacola Florida (Davis, 2010).

According to Schoen (2015), a convicted murderer, Paul Hill, during his sentencing statement, referred to The Silent Scream:

Its use as a recruiting tool and its ability to incite increasingly violent protests is

well summed up in Paul Hill’s statement at his sentencing for the 1994 murder of

Dr. John Britton and Britton’s bodyguard, John Barrett, outside a Florida

abortion clinic that in order to understand his motivations, the judge need only

watch an ultrasound of an abortion being performed. (Kindle Edition, p. 145)

Schoen (2015) pointed out that it was the first-time moving images of an abortion procedure were displayed in a digital format. The video imagery brought a dimension of time and motion to the interpretive framework of abortion crafted by pro-life activism.

Although the pictures appalled many on both sides of the abortion issue, they drew many to the pro-life cause and others to radical acts of violence. Joe Bissonnette, a freelance writer, recalls his experience viewing the film as an undergraduate student.

Bissonnette (2009) stated:

The ultrasound images of the baby swimming in the amniotic fluid, kicking,

moving its head and arms, were transfixing. A hundred and fifty university

students were soundly captivated as they watched, and then horror-struck when

the baby was attacked and torn apart by the abortionist suction tube (p. 15).

Nonetheless, the images provide the primary frame of how American society visualizes abortion. These visual frames are inescapable, even for pro-choice supporters.

In November 1988, four years after the debut of The Silent Scream, approximately 5000 fetal remains were stolen from the premises of the Vital Med pathology lab in Chicago by pro-life activists. Schoen (2015) stated:

[Activists] reassembled the fetal parts and photographed the specimen with

close-up lenses. Sometimes the images included tags with the place of origin,

fetal sex, and gestational age. At other times, activists named the fetuses and

included little nametags…Migliorino and her future husband, Edmund Miller,

drove 729 specimens to Tallahassee, Florida. Twelve hundred bodies went to

Milwaukee; 150 bodies were flown to Fargo, North Dakota; 200 went to Indiana;

and 157 went to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Antiabortion activists in

Philadelphia requested some bodies and received 200; another 100 went to New

Jersey. The remaining bodies, about 2,000, stayed in Chicago. (p. 155, 156)

The fetal parts were reassembled when possible, photographed, stored, and later distributed to pro-life activists. Some of the bodies were placed in caskets and given traditional funerals. Some of the funerals were open casket ceremonies. Even President

Reagan expressed appreciation for the formal burial of an aborted fetus stolen from an

16 abortion clinic. For the pro-lifer, the display of the aborted fetuses symbolized the hundreds of thousands of abortions per year that have taken place in the nation (Schoen,

2015).

A transition in approach to Operation Rescue’s pro-life activism. Several factors led to the change of tactics in Operation Rescue’s pro-life activism. The murders of abortionists impacted Operation Rescue, causing the group to fracture as the debate on the justification of such violence reached a peak. Egan (1995) stated:

The divisions came to a head in the meeting in Chicago one year ago [1994],

attended by about 80 people. A petition circulated by Mr. Hill, a former minister,

which justified shooting doctors, was the focus of furious debate. Four months

after the meeting, Mr. Hill gunned down Dr. John B. Britton and his escort,

retired Lieut. Col. James H. Barrett, as the two men drove into a Pensacola, Fla.,

clinic. Mr. Hill was convicted and sentenced to death. Those who signed the

petition, or refused to condemn violence, broke away and formed several, much

smaller and poorly financed groups. (para. 32-37)

Legal pressures mounted as uncertainty loomed regarding possible personal liabilities under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt (RICO) act. In 1989, Randall Terry was included in the National Organization for Women (NOW) v. Scheidler lawsuit (“NOW v. Scheidler,” n.d.). Terry settled out of court, agreeing to abandon pro-life activism

(Jackson, n.d.). Although the outcome of NOW v. Scheidler was a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Scheidler, the litigation lasted twenty-six years (Kelly, 2003). On March 23,

1993, Senator Edward Kennedy introduced the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances

(FACE) Act. President Bill Clinton signed the act into law on May 26, 1994, making the obstruction of clinic entrances a federal offense (Schoen, 2015).

Arguably the harsher legal penalties for blocking abortion clinics dissuaded

Operation Rescue from clinic blockades. By 1996, Operation Rescue all but abandoned clinic blockades. Instead, Operation Rescue’s public protest focused on displaying large graphic images of aborted fetuses during public demonstrations to prompt dialog with young women. It is unclear whether or not Operation Rescue’s images of aborted fetuses are copies originating from the Wilke’s photos or photos of the bodies stolen from the

Vital Med pathology lab in Chicago, as there is no direct affiliation between the principals involved in either of the two cases and Operation Rescue. However,

Operation Rescue found such images effective in generating emotional responses from the public. The Vice-President of Operation Rescue at the time of this study, Cheryl

Sullenger (2000) stated:

1. The large graphic photos of aborted babies began to be used on the public

streets of hundreds of cities across America through Operation Rescue’s ‘Show

the Truth’ campaigns.

2. Operation Rescue began displaying the large photos at high school and college

campuses, targeting the age group of women most likely to seek an abortion.

3. The partial birth abortion debate erupted in the United States Congress.

Graphic drawings of the partial birth abortion procedure began to be widely

publicized. (p. 4,5)

The signs appeared outside abortion clinics, neighborhood churches, college campuses, and other public places and events. Operation Rescue claimed the signs helped convince women not to have abortions and informed other Christians about the horrible acts of abortion by displaying the graphic images.

In 1999, Troy Newman, the leader of Operation Rescue West, an affiliate branch of Operation Rescue, claimed the reigns and the Operation Rescue moniker of the organization under the premise that Randall Terry had abandoned the organization fifteen years prior. A year after taking over the reins of Operation Rescue, Newman expanded the graphic image campaign by equipping trucks with billboards displaying large graphic images of aborted fetuses; he called them Truth Trucks (Newman, 2012;

Terry, n.d.). That same year Operation Rescue published a 13-page brochure entitled,

The Use of Graphic Photos of Aborted Children in the Public Forum: A Rational and

Biblical Defense, authored by Cheryl Sullenger. The publication was in response to criticism of the use of the signs by other Christians and Christian ministries.

When asked if criticism of Operation Rescue’s tactic of exhibiting large graphic signs of aborted fetuses came from the same group of Christians that objected to the clinic blockades, Sullenger (2017) replied:

I do not believe that one had anything to do with the other. As with anything,

there will always be detractors—well-meaning and otherwise— no matter what

you do. There are those that have never heard of clinic blockades that oppose the

use of aborted baby photos. (para., 8)

Despite the criticism from some within the Christian community, the use of graphic images continues to be a conspicuous strategy in pro-life activism. The use of large graphic images of aborted fetuses during public demonstrations became the signature stamp-mark and a primary form of activism for Operation Rescue and other pro-life groups.

From a casual observer’s perspective, pro-life groups appear homogenous; obviously, however, there are differences in the rhetorical actions of various pro-life organizations. Operation Rescue’s activism is most notable for a combination of aggressive confrontation and shocking graphic imagery. Some organizations have re- framed their rhetoric, opting for a more empathetic approach than the protests of the late

1980s and early 1990s, but the graphic signs remain familiar, as do the emotional debates they generate.

The artifact. The artifact of study is that communique, The Use of Graphic

Photos of Aborted Children in the Public Forum: A Rational and Biblical Defense, written for the community of Christian fundamentalists, conservative Evangelicals, and any Christian that opposes Operation Rescue’s method of activism, i.e., their use of graphic images as a means of pro-life activism. The artifact is Operation Rescue’s

“rhetorical defense” (Sullenger, 2000) of their actions: the public display of graphic photos of aborted fetuses to members of the Christian community. The artifact is rich in linguistic implications of a prophetic type of rhetorical agency. This thesis will argue that the artifact positions its claims not merely within a rhetorical frame of prophetic

20 voice as a literary device, but rather situates itself, when considered carefully, as proclaiming the literal voice of God. How this shift from literary device to literal voice of God is accomplished rhetorically is the focus of this thesis.

In short, Burke’s logological spheres in the cycle of Order are rhetorically constructed to overlap in the artifact, so that the relatively discrete steps interact authoritatively to invoke the highest power of order and to enact that highest power as an ontological reality, not a metaphoric or socially constructed one.

Kenneth Burke

Kenneth Burke (1968) defined human being as:

The (symbol-making, symbol-misusing) animal

Inventor of the negative (or moralized by the negative)

Separated from his [sic, here and throughout Burke] natural condition by

instruments of his own making

goaded by the spirit of hierarchy (or moved by the sense of order)

And rotten with perfection (p. 16)

Dramatism: A prelude to logology. Burke set two dynamics, action and motion, diametrically apart. In nature, there is motion. We construct language to construct meaning from the natural realm. The natural realm, nature, unfolds as motion within time and space. Nature is subject to multiple variables of cause and effect.

Human symbolic action differs because it is deliberate motion, with the unique characteristic of purpose and motive inherent in human autonomy. Burke (1970) stated:

Behavioristic terminologies of motives would reduce “action” to “motion,”

whereas Dramatism holds that “action” is a more inclusive realm, not capable of

adequate description in terms of “motion” only. “Action” is to “motion” as

“mind” is to “brain.” (p. 39)

Motion denotes the dynamic course of nature. Symbolic action denotes free-will and human choice. Whereas nature is set in motion, humans have the capacity to create and respond to this motion with symbolic action, that which constructs meaning, as opposed to responding strictly habitually to stimuli.

Through the unique human capacity to construct concepts of understanding, humans can alter and control the course (motion) of nature, thus “separating us from our natural condition by instruments of our own making” (Burke 1968, p. 16). Language bestows upon us humans the ability to control the natural realm that encapsulates us, making nature an object that is subject to human will, at least to some degree. But since human beings participate in their natural world as part of it, this means that the ability to control nature often gives some human beings the power to control, or even destroy, other human beings.

Just as humans seek to control nature, we seek to control each other. Through human symbolic action, we construct rules, laws, societal norms, ideologies, ethics, and religion in response to the autonomy of other humans. Burke constructed a system for analyzing human symbolic action that he believed reached beyond deterministic terminologies. His well-known Dramatism lays out a basic method for isolating aspects of a message (act, actor, scene, agent, agency, motive) and unlocking rhetorical actions.

According to Burke, human action results from symbolic motives. But Burke’s most mature statement of how symbols provide agency to human beings is found in his system of logology.

Logology: Theory of human language. In his book, The Rhetoric of Religion,

Kenneth Burke (1970) laid out his theoretical framework of the logic of language as it unfolds in narrative form, which he calls logology. Logology is a theory that understands language functions as analogous to Christian theological concepts. Garlitz (2004) stated,

“With Logology…there is a shift of emphasis whereby the form of religious language is taken as the primary model for the study of the general principles or ultimate motives of all symbolic action” (Kindle Locations 53-54). Burke (1970) stated:

We are to be concerned with the analogy between “words’ (lower case) and The

Word (Logos, Verbum) as it were in caps. “Words” in the first sense have wholly

naturalistic, empirical reference. But they may be used analogically, to designate

a further dimension, the “supernatural.” Whether or not there is a realm of the

“supernatural,” there are words for it (p. 7)

Burke theorized that the intricacies of Christian theology are analogous to linguistic functions. His theory is arguably an evolution of his concepts of Dramatism as chronicled by the corpus of his work.

Burke’s Dramatism has become a critical method of analysis that explicates human motivation, provides insight into rhetorical actions, and cultivates critiques of rhetorical agency, among other things (Kneupper, 1985). Dramatism is based on a presupposition that language operates within four referential orders. Burke’s

23 presupposition developed into the four orders of language that is part of the foundation to Burke’s logology. Burke’s theory is that human language demonstrates a natural cyclical pattern constructed from a complex symbolic system of communication which he refers to as the Tautological Cycle of Terms for Order. Linguistic patterns that Burke, borrowing from Judeo-Christian theology, likens to a redemptive cycle are repeated throughout a rhetor’s discourse. The theory situates cycles and clusters of terms that provide insight into the critique of human rhetorical actions. Burke provided a subtitle to the cyclical action of ordering terms, referring to it as the Grand Rounding Out (Burke,

1970). The Grand Rounding Out refers to the unpacking of human thought by language in narrative form. Burke observes that there is:

…the Grand Rounding Out, where the principle of reward as payment (from the

Order side) merges with the principle of punishment as payment (from the

Disorder side), to promise redemption by vicarious atonement. Sovereignty and

subjection (the two poles of governance) are brought together in the same figure

(Christ as King and Christ as Servant respectively)—and the contradiction

between these principles is logically resolved by a narrative device, the notion of

two advents whereby Christ could appear once as servant and the second time as

king. Here is the idea of a “perfect” victim to cancel (or “cover”) what was in

effect the “perfect” sin (its technical perfection residing in the fact that it was the

first transgression of the first man against the first and foremost authority) (p.

191)

The Grand Rounding Out is an atoning principle that merges the paradox of reward and punishment, Order and disorder, as a redemptive cycle of the terms of Order within a narrative. Burke compares the creation narrative in Genesis to a cyclical system of human communication (symbol making and using), a system framed by a categorical hierarchy. As a narrative unfolds, so do the cyclical terms of Order. It is a cycle that

Burke analogously referred to as a redemptive cycle, from perfection to fall, from fall to victimage, from victimage to redemption, and back to perfection. Burke provided an alternate analogy of the cyclical pattern. He observes that:

…the musical distinction between “chord” and “arpeggio” is borrowed for the

analysis of tonal qualities in literature. The point is this: If you strike do-mi-sol

simultaneously, you get a perfect concord. If you added fa, thus playing do-mi-

fa-sol, you get a discord. But if you draw this discord out into an arpeggio, by

playing the four notes not simultaneously but in succession, they are not felt as a

discord. Rather, they are transformed into a melody since the dissonant fa acts

merely as a passing note. (Burke, 1970, p. 229)

The musical chord analogy is the unfolding of music. The discord is transformed by the complete unfolding of the chord as played in an arpeggio. Garlitz (2004) pointed out the advantage Burke discovered in the theological analogy over the musical analogy:

The advantage which the religious version of it seems to have over the musical

or other models is that the ambiguity between the logical and temporal modes is

specified in religion as a sacrificial principle. Some price must be paid for

transcendence, or so would seem the idea which Burke would have in mind. And

where the musical model and the temporizing of essence model seem to offer the

solution to a logical problem through the narrative, the way that Burke explores

Order suggests that he now sees both modes as having unique transcendent ways

of solving problems. There is a complete dialectic, a full circuit, rather than a

move from logical problem to temporal solution (Kindle Locations 2229-2234)

The theological analogy adds a sacrificial aspect to language that the musical analogy lacks, replacing the transformative element of a chord into a melody, with a redemptive theological analogy. To better understand the development of Burke’s concept of ordered terms, a brief overview of the foundational principals that structure Burke’s linguistic theory follows.

As previously mentioned, logology is a theory that borrows the language of religion to explain the complex system of human language. There are six theological analogies in which four orders of language operate, making up the framework of the theory. The four orders of language are: (1) the natural, (2) the human, (3) the verbal and

(4) the supernatural. The first category is words for things in the natural realm apart from human beings, “words like ‘tree,’ ‘sun,’ ‘dog,’ ‘hunger,’ ‘change,’ ‘growth.’

(Burke, 1970, p. 14). The second category deals with the social-political: “social relations, laws, right, wrong, rule and the like” (p.14). The third realm deals with words about words, “dictionaries, grammar, etymology, philology, literary criticism, rhetoric, poetics, dialectics—all that I like to think of as coming to a head in the discipline I would want to call ‘Logology’” (p. 14). The fourth realm deals with the supernatural, words that are religious, theological, or supernatural. Burke (1970) stated:

“Spirit” is a similar word. Having moved analogically from its natural meaning,

as “breath,” to connotations that flowered in its usage as a term for the

supernatural, it could then be analogically borrowed back as a secular term for

temper, temperament and the like (p. 8)

Burke explains that this realm of words borrows back from the secular usage of words

(that relate to the theological) and are once again applied empirically.

Religion uses natural words in an ontological context. For Christians, for example, the term redemption holds a significant amount of intensity. Redemption is the outcome from the sacrificial price paid by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, atoning for the sin of humankind. The term, however, is borrowed from secular vernacular. Simply put, it is the reclamation of property in exchange for payment. The words become associated with the language of religion changing the meaning of the word into a religious, supernatural one.

Burke’s theory of logology then borrows back religious implications and applies them to the whole of language—which Burke refers to as an empirical use. Burke emphasizes the epistemological utility of theological language, making it clear that he uses religious language analogously for the economics of terminology. The language that makes up the Christian theological system parallels the complex human linguistic system. However, in applying the theological concepts, such as redemption, analogously

27 to language, a degree of pathos carries over from the supernatural application into the empirical use applied to human language. To further an exegesis of logology and how

Burke relates theological terms to human language, a review of the foundational analogies that construct the theory follows.

The first analogy. The theological concept of the Trinity is principal to the analogous framework of logology. Burke (1970) provided this framework to theological analogy in a series of scriptures from the Christian New Testament, commencing at the beginning of the Gospel of John, when he stated:

The opening sentence of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”; John 1:14: “The Word

was made flesh, and dwelt among us”; Revelation 19:12-13: “And he had a name

written, that no man knew, but he himself… And his name is called the Word of

God”; First Epistle of John 5:7: “For there are three that bear record in heaven,

the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” (p. 11)

The first analogy is a generalization of what unfolds within the later analogies as the structure to the theory of linguistic functions:

And insofar as a thought can be said to precede its utterance, such a strict

following of the verbal analogy would imply that the second person would

follow the first person in time. A usage by St. Anselm, “in the Word by which

thou sayest thy very self (in Verbo quo te ipsu dicis),” indicates something of this

same concern with the relation between thought and utterance, though of course

without the Arian conclusion (p. 13)

A principle of linguistic transcendence is analogous to the theological concept of the incarnation of Christ. Burke emphasizes a chronological sequence to denote the finite realm of time and space. He gives the Father a prior position to the Son and, likewise, the Son to the Holy Spirit and sees in this pattern a logological sequence from the supernatural or metaphysical (The Father) to the utterance of the conceived thought

(Son) to the meaning (Spirit) that is left after a word is spoken, which should reflect the spirit of the intended meaning of the speaker or rhetor. Burke explained: “What we say about words, in the empirical realm, will bear a notable likeness to what is said about

God in theology” (p. 13f). The remaining analogies are concepts that relate to the first.

The second analogy. For the second analogy, Burke (1970) stated, “Words are to the non-verbal things they name as Spirit is to Matter…There is a sense in which the word ‘transcends’ the thing it names” (p. 16). Early in Burke’s work, he defines the human being as a “symbol-using animal” (Burke, 1966, p. 3). Symbols, according to

Burke, transcend the metaphysical to provide our minds with a way to relate to the natural realm. The transcendent characteristic of words mediates a union between the metaphysical and the physical realm. Words are conceived from an unquantifiable symbolic realm and operate in the natural realm where words are bound by linear time; that is, human language is symbolic action unfolding within the limits of time and space.

One word must come after the other when written or spoken, like the sequence of words within this sentence. When thought is conceived within the mind and enters the natural realm from the metaphysical (from the perfect to the imperfect), there is a corruption that is unavoidable, and this corruption is analogous to the theological fall of mankind as

29 depicted within the Genesis account. Words are a manifestation of human symbolic action that takes place in the natural realm. However, according to Burke, words also inspirit the natural realm; they have a certain power to influence nature. Burke (1970) used the example of psychogenic illness to illustrate his point.

There was a story in the press concerning a savage on some island, of the South

Pacific, I believe, who had been hexed by members of his tribe and was dying

despite the efforts of modern medicine to save him. No actual material harm had

been done to him. He had merely returned to his tent and found the magic signs

that pronounce upon him the tribal sentence of death, and he forthwith began to

sicken (p. 17)

The point that Burke was making was that words which originate from a metaphysical

(supernatural) realm transcend and can influence the human psyche, causing physiological changes that can affect even one’s health.

The third analogy. The third analogy deals with the negative. The negative, according to Burke, is purely a product of human conceptualization; humans are the

“Inventor of the negative (or moralized by the negative)” (Burke, 1968, p. 16). Garlitz

(2004) stated:

And by the negative we can choose a victim, one who is not unworthy of the

role. In either the cyclical or narrative modes of language stylization, the

negative is also central. A logical order begins with some sort of distinction

whereby we say yes to one term and no to another or whereby we establish a

dialectic:

we say yes to action and no to motion or we can meditate on the nature of Being

and Non-Being. In narrative the negative is equally everywhere since telling a

story is also a fully moral act of deciding what not to include or what to tell until

later in the development (Kindle Locations 2048-2049)

Burke (1970) stated, “The paradox of the negative, then, is simply this: Quite as the word ‘tree’ is verbal and the thing tree is non-verbal, so all words for the non-verbal must, by the very nature of the case, discuss the realm of the non-verbal in terms of what it is not” (p. 18). Burke differentiated between what the word is not in relation to what a word represents. Once the object is symbolized, the symbol, being unique to the object, sets the object apart from all things it is not. Cattle, for instance, are branded with unique symbols that represent the ranch to which the livestock belongs. If a steer or bull wanders away from its owner and onto another ranch, the ranch hands can identify the animal as not being their property from the brand (symbol) that is not their own. In the same way, the word cattle mentally brands a certain type of animal, making it not anything else in our minds.

Humans learn the negative at an early age. The word “no” from a parent keeps the child from harm. It programs an individual regarding what should or should not be done and determines what we are by what we are not, setting boundaries that divide us from them and perfection from imperfection. The negative allows for the construction of classification, category, and hierarchy.

The fourth analogy. At the heart of logology is the concept of the “Tautological

Cycle of Terms for Order” (p. 183):

Imagine the ideal title of a book. An ideal title would “sum up” all the particulars

of the book. It would in a way “imply” these particulars…The stress in the fourth

analogy is not upon this negative element, but upon the search for a title of titles,

an over-all term (which turns out to have this negative principle as an essential

part of its character)…the third and fourth analogies can be treated separately,

the third concerns the correspondence between negativity in language and its

place in negative theology, while the fourth concerns the nature of language as a

process of entitlement, leading in the secular realm towards an over-all title of

titles. Such a secular summarizing term would be technically a “god-term,” in the

same sense that its role was analogous to the over-all entitling role played by the

theologian’s word for the godhead” (Burke, 1970, p. 26, 27)

The forth analogy cycles away from imperfect and sets out for the perfect, the god-term, the title of titles. According to Burke, language functions by the structured Order in which we place our terms to arrive linguistically at an ultimate motive. Human words are a means to and away from perfection in an ongoing cycle of symbolic action in motion. Burke (1970) stated:

Logologically, there is a “fall” from a prior state of unity, whenever some one

term is broken into two or more terms, so that we have the “divisiveness” of

“classification” where we formerly had had a “vision of perfect oneness.” Insofar

as the title of a book could be said to sum up the nature of that book, then the

breakdown of the book into parts, chapters, paragraphs, sentences, words would

be technically a “fall” from the Edenic unity of the title, or epitomizing “god-

term.” The parts of the book reduce its “idea” to “matter.” Or, as Coleridge said

(Table Talk, October 15, 1833): “The Trinity is the Idea: the Incarnation, which

implies the Fall, is the Fact: the redemption is the mesothesis of the two—that is

— the Religion.” (p. 175)

A cyclical pattern, the redemptive cycle, develops within a narrative that functions as a catalyst to the intended meaning of the one authoring the symbolic action.

The fifth analogy. As Burke stated, the “fifth analogy concerns the relation between ‘time’ and ‘eternity’” (p. 27). Referencing the Cheshire Cat in Alice in

Wonderland, Burke (1970) stated, “Then the cat disappears, all but its smile. The smile’s

‘temporal’ aspects vanish, leaving but their essence, their meaning” (p. 28). The origin of the symbol is a mystery from beyond the natural realm. Once uttered, symbols transcend into the natural realm, subject to time, and eventually cease to be uttered, leaving behind—meaning. Words operate within the realm of the natural and the symbolic. They function within the linear restraints of time as one word must follow another in a given sequence. Burke (1970) stated:

Such meaning, I would say, is analogous to “eternity.” In contrast with the flux

of the sentence, where each syllable arises, exists for a moment, and then “dies”

to make room for the next stage of the continuing process, the meaning is “non-

temporal,” though embodied (made incarnate) in a temporal series. The meaning

in its unity or simplicity “just is” (p. 27).

The sacrificial principle comes into play as the temporal words transcend from the supernatural (perfect) and fall into the corruptible and must eventually die (end), but the meaning lingers infinitely. Symbols fall short of that which they symbolize, yet they construct a means of redemption, an atonement of type, by symbolic action, i.e., the unfolding of an utterance or sentence whose death brings forth meaning. The meaning of a sentence corresponds to the idea of eternity (the outcome of redemption, i.e., the outcome of The Son’s sacrifice, The Holy Spirit). The sacrificial principle is embedded in the idea that, as one utterance ends, it makes room for another utterance that will, in a sense, die so that the meaning of a sentence can eternally be.

The sixth analogy. The sixth analogy deals with the relationship between “the name and the thing named” (Burke, 1970, p. 34). Burke used the concept of the Trinity analogously to explain the transcendent quality of linguistics. Garlitz (2004) notes,

“Language does for us all that the Word does for time and eternity, the persons of the

Trinity, for the whole supernatural realm—orders, creates, names, mediates, connects— makes us what we are” (Kindle Loc., 2000). These six analogies make up the theoretical structure that “will provide us with good insight into the nature of language itself as a motive” (Burke, 1970, p. vi). The analogies are the basis of Burke’s theory of the dynamic development of language. In summary, Burke utilizes the ready-made system and processes of religious language and applies these analogously to human symbolic action, calling his theory of language, logology. In this study, The Tautological Cycle of

Terms of Order, provides a theoretical overlay through which to understand the functions of human language and uncover ultimate motives within a given discourse.

Methodology: Cluster analysis. The rhetorical patterns that can be identified in a speech or textual artifact provide insight into the rhetor’s worldview through the value system of terms an author or rhetor uses within their discourse. Kenneth Burke’s cluster analysis, within the theoretical framework of logology, will be used as a method of analysis to examine the artifact.

A cluster analysis identifies keywords within an author’s or rhetor’s discourse.

The keywords reveal an interrelationship between word clusters that go beyond the consciousness of the writer, as Burke (1967) explains:

Every writer contains a set of implicit equations. He uses ‘associational

clusters.’… And though he be perfectly conscious of the act of writing,

consciousness selecting a certain kind of imagery to reinforce a certain kind of

mood, etc., he cannot possibly be conscious of the interrelationships among all

these equations” (p. 20).

The cluster analysis extrapolates connections between what people say and the purposes for their verbal expression and their ensuing actions, whether it is written or spoken within a public forum. Explaining just how thorough a cluster analysis is in revealing the hidden attitudes and values of a rhetor or author, Burke (1984) stated:

By charting clusters, we get our cues as to the important ingredients subsumed in

‘symbolic mergers.’ We reveal, beneath an author’s official front,’ the level at

which a lie is impossible. If a man’s virtuous characters are dull, and his wicked

characters are done vigorously, his art has voted for the wicked ones, regardless

of his ‘official front.’ If a man talks dully of glory, but brilliantly employs the

imagery of desolation, his true subject is desolation. (p. 233)

The cluster analysis allows us to go beyond the superficial and into the very fiber of a rhetor’s value system. Burke referred to the terms that reveal the rhetor’s value system within a given text as terministic screens (Burke, 1968).

According to Burke (1968), terministic screens are like lens filters that provide different colors of an overall photo. A rhetor sees the world through a particular set of lens filters. Those filters are expressed in terms of ultimacy. Foss (2018) stated, “God terms are ultimate terms that represent the ideal for a rhetor, while devil-terms represent the ultimate negative or evil for a rhetor” (p.65). Terms of ultimacy reflect the rhetor’s view of good and evil or right and wrong (Foss, 2018; Weaver, 1953). In conducting a cluster analysis, keywords (god-terms and devil terms) are identified within a text.

Frequency is one criterion in determining a keyword; intensity is another. The mechanics of a cluster analysis sort frequently used words and terms considered to have a quality of intensity within the rhetor’s text. According to Foss (2018), “a term may not appear very often in a rhetor’s work, but it may be critical because it is central to the argument being made, represents an ultimate commitment, or conveys great depth of feeling. It is a term whose removal would change the nature of the text significantly” (p.

64). Therefore, keywords are identified by considering the frequency, intensity, and ultimacy of the terms. Once the keywords are identified, words within the same context

36 as the keywords are also identified and ranked according to frequency and intensity

(Foss, 2018).

The analysis of this study will be conducted in two phases. The first phase of the analysis will consist of the cluster analysis as described above. The second phase of the analysis will consist of indexing and titling the phrases containing the keywords into themes. As keywords may be used in various contexts, after the keywords are identified, consideration will be given to the context of phrases containing the keywords. The phrases will then be indexed; the indexes will be titled based on the dominant themes that emerge from the cluster of terms within the index. Through a process of deduction, the associated themes will be juxtaposed against the theoretical framework of Burke’s logology. By framing the thematic indexes against Burke’s theoretical framework, structural relations between clusters are revealed which may not be evident in the arrangement of the artifact (Burke, Hyman, & Karmiller, 1964). Furthermore, the function of the primary textual elements within the artifact will be identified (Burke,

1970).

An essay entitled, Fact, Inference, and Proof in the Analysis of Literary

Symbolism, an essay that was “part of a project called ‘Theory of the Index, ’and concerned with the taking of preparatory notes for purposes of critical analysis” (Burke,

Hyman, & Karmiller, 1964, p. 145), provides a basis for using indexes in critical analysis. The systematic analytical method shares similarities to cluster analysis. Burke provided instructions for identifying keywords as indexes. For instance, he stated that

“some notations seem more likely than others to keep critical observation centrally directed… Note all striking terms for acts, attitudes, ideas, images, relationships… Note oppositions… Pay particular attention to the beginnings and endings of sections or subsections... (p. 161). Earlier in the text he provides instruction on the type of proof involved in indexing:

‘Proof,’ then, would be of two sorts. While grounding itself in reference to the

textual ‘facts,’ it must seek to make clear all elements of inference or

interpretation it adds to these facts; and it must offer a rationale for its selections

and interpretations. Ideally, it might even begin from different orders of ‘facts,’

and show how they led in the end to the same interpretation. (p. 147)

The late Dr. James S. Mullican, formerly a professor of Indiana State University English

Department, offers his assessment on the analytical utility of indexing; he stated:

In his critical writing, Burke offers more than a vision; he offers a terminology

for discussing the vision and a technique of ‘indexing,’ whereby elements of a

literary work may be delineated and held up for a clear view, revealing ideas and

attitudes, along with their patterns and emphases…Burke offers more than

terminology; he offers a technique for analyzing the medicine and describing

how it is concocted. This technique Burke calls ‘indexing,’ a method of

discerning ‘what goes with what.’… Burke recommends that the literary critic

select and collect significant ‘facts’ (i.e., terms) in a literary work to determine

‘what goes with what.’ These terms may be related to the imagery (as in Caroline

Spurgeon’s Shakespeare’s Imagery), to the plot, to the characters, indeed to any

element in the literary work. (Mullican, 1981, p. 42-45)

Regarding Burke’s analysis of Augustine’s Confessions, as published in Burke’s book,

The Rhetoric of Religion, Garlitz (2004) stated, “As terms are indexed, the critic begins to see associational clusters which he then attempts to entitle according to the consistency among the details of the clusters” (Kindle Location 1279). What Garlitz is referring to is a process of summation: a bringing together of terms that are unified in spirit under one title. Burke considers terms that are of a unifying nature, those “found in the nature of any name or title, which sums up a manifold of particulars under a single head (as with the title of a book, or the name of some person or political movement), any such summarizing word, a ‘god-term’” (Burke, 1970, p. 2, 3). As Burke explains, the ideal title of any book would be a summation of the entire content, he deems such a title, a Title of Titles or the ultimate god-term within a given discourse (Burke, 1970). Just as the analytical method of a cluster analysis extrapolates ultimates, that is, god-terms and devil-terms, that disclose the terministic screens embedded within the psyche of an author or a rhetor, logology is a linguistic theory that provides an interpretive framework of the ultimate motive behind human symbolic action.

This study uses a logological framework as an interpretive overlay to the cluster analysis. The themes within the titled indexes will be juxtaposed against what Burke calls the “Tautological Cycle of Terms for ‘Order’” (Burke, 1970, p. 183), a principle

39 tenet of logology. According to Burke, literary works, rhetoric, or any symbolic action inherits the terministic screens of its author. Furthermore, all symbolic actions are acts of ordering and reordering. The pattern is cyclical in that it is repeated throughout a given discourse. In explaining logology’s universality and utility, Garlitz (2004) stated:

Any literary work is a product of, and a representation of, the motives of order in

that sense. In constructing an interpretative framework, the advantage logology

would claim is that it maintains a direct focus on the ultimate or definitive

features of the human situation while permitting the critic to understand the

details of the work in every way that he can. (Kindle Location 2747)

Within a given discourse there is what a rhetor considers the perfect state, the ultimate order within his/her message, what would be considered (at least within the psyche of the rhetor) the pinnacle of ordered terms. Just as unity implies division, order implies disorder. Disorder, a less than perfect state, is embedded within the unfolding discourse.

Following Burke’s description of human-kind, that is, “goaded by the spirit of hierarchy…and rotten with perfection” (Burke, 1968, p. 16), a way back to perfection is also in order. To complete this tautological cycle, somehow a price must be paid; a remedy is necessary to complete the cycle back to the state of order; therefore, victimage

(scapegoating or mortification) is manifest within the order of terms. In summary, a given discourse follows a redemptive cycle: perfection (the conveyance of order), a fall

(disorder, the expression of what needs to be remedied), and victimage which provides a way back to order completing the Tautological Cycle of Terms for Order.

Although applying the logological framework of ordered terms to a cluster analysis may be unique, applying a categorical framework around a cluster analysis is not. Littlefield and Quenette (2007) did so in their analysis of how media depictions of natural disasters (specifically hurricane Katrina) affect the way “authorities frame their initial crisis responses” (p. 26). In conducting a cluster analysis, Littlefield and Quenette

(2007) established a categorical index of authority figures. Categories of five levels of authority were chosen through the process of inductive reasoning. The categories were as follows: Military, Homeland security, President Bush, Federal government, and Local government. A cluster analysis was conducted in which specific clusters were deductively associated with one of the five levels of authority and indexed accordingly

(Littlefield & Quenette, 2007). Although the differences between this study and the

Littlefield and Quenette study are significant, the Littlefield and Quenette study demonstrates flexibility in the application of a cluster analysis.

By analyzing the key terms and indexing them within the framework of the ordered terms of logology, that is, order, disorder, and victimage, this analysis will formulate how the themes within the artifact function to fulfill the ultimate motive behind Operation Rescue’s message and provide insight to the implications that message carries.

Outline of the project. By examining the clusters within the frame of logology, this thesis will forward an analysis of how the Operation Rescue pamphlet moves from a prophetic voice, in the literary sense, to prophesy in the ontological sense. The next

41 chapter will examine the artifact more closely and perform the cluster analysis. The closing chapter will then introduce the logological frame of interpretation and the study’s conclusions.

Chapter Two

ANALYSIS

Description of the Artifact

The rise of Operation Rescue that swept the nation and the pro-life movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s reached a plateau in 1991 with what Operation

Rescue coined the Summer of Mercy campaign resulting in the arrest of nearly 2,600 protesters (Terry, 1991). By 1994, the passage of the FACE act, making it a federal crime to block abortion clinic entrances, deterred protesters significantly, with their numbers dwindling to just a small number of full-time activists. Operation Rescue would struggle with internal divisions and dwindling support. Splinter groups and local affiliates of Operation Rescue carried on independently, with little central structure. One such group, Operation Rescue West, based out of San Diego, California, would eventually gain control of the organization, acquiring the Operation Rescue moniker

(Operation Rescue, n.d.; Terry, 1991). By 1999, under the leadership of Troy Newman,

Operation Rescue West consolidated the fragmented organization. Newman would eventually move Operation Rescue’s headquarters to Wichita Kansas in 2002, taking over the facility of the late abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller (Operation Rescue, n.d.).

The artifact, The Use of Graphic Photos of Aborted Children in the Public

Forum: A Rational and Biblical Defense, was initially published in the year 2000, authored by Cheryl Sullenger, present Senior Vice President/Senior Policy Advisor of

Operation Rescue. Published during a time of transition and reorganization, the artifact was distributed at local churches in the San Diego area. The churches were selected,

43 according to Sullenger (2017), “based on their proximity to abortion facilities” (p. 2)

(see Appendix A for complete interview). The artifact was chosen for several reasons.

The very title of the artifact identifies it as a self-conscious persuasive appeal.

Furthermore, the appeal uses religious language and several biblical references to build a rhetorical case, giving the artifact the potential to demonstrate rhetorical prophetic agency. Lastly, the artifact is a persuasive appeal to the Christian community, situating prophetic agency within a religious context, which makes a provocative and interesting critical enterprise.

The 13-page document was once available on Operation Rescue’s website, http://www.operationrescue.org/files/useofgraphicsigns.PDF, but has since been removed (see Appendix B for artifact content). The artifact was distributed in the form of a pamphlet as part of an outreach campaign that would include large graphic images of aborted fetuses strategically placed in front of churches prior to the commencement of

Sunday worship (see Appendix C, fig. 3 for an example of the type of signage outside of churches). The plan had been to “use the images as a means of helping Christians understand what was going on so near their houses of worship” (Sullenger, 2017). In recalling the campaign, Sullenger stated, “We hoped we could recruit activists from these churches. It was mostly, but not entirely, a fool’s errand” (p. 2). The Operation

Rescue group showed up before service to set up their display, with or without an invitation from the church’s leadership. Unsuspecting and often bewildered churchgoers were handed the pamphlet as they made their way to their children’s Sunday school class, the nursery, or the sanctuary for morning service.

The title, The Use of Graphic Photos of Aborted Children in the Public Forum:

A Rational and Biblical Defense, appears in large block letters. Behind the letters is a watermark graphic of a building column in the style of ancient Greek architecture, like the Athenian Agora, a place for a general assembly on matters of politics. The words

“Graphic Photos” appears centered on the top third of the page with the largest font. In a slightly smaller font, the words “Aborted Children” are also centered and displayed.

The table of contents page presents six indexed sections: (1) Biblical and

Historical Precedent, (2) Biblical Mandate, (3) Positive Effects, (4) Negative Effects?

(5) But Children View These! and (6) Conclusion. From the beginning of the track, the rhetor establishes an authoritative perspective of Biblical literalism. The authority of

Biblical references is a focal point of the author’s argumentative framework. The use of scriptural passages establishes an identification of faith with those within the Christian community that holds to the infallibility and inerrancy of scripture. There are 15 biblical references, four of which are references to verses contained within the book of Judges

19-20. The artifact contains, not counting title and table of content pages, 3,663 words,

196 sentences, and 45 paragraphs.

A single scripture verse appears centered on the second page. It reads, “‘Now,

Son of Man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations.’ Ezekiel 22:2.”

The first paragraph that appears prior to the first section listed in the table of context is an immediate acknowledgment of the anticipated audience reaction to the graphic images presented at the scene. The pamphlet itself, though distributed in

45 conjunction with the display of large graphic images, does not display or contain graphic images. The pamphlet provides the explanation that answers the question, “Why are these disturbing images here, in front of my church?” The first sentence is presumptive.

There is a presumption that the audience member, the person reading the pamphlet, is questioning why there is a group of boisterous pro-life activists displaying large, graphic images, everything from posters to large billboard size images of bloodied mutilated babies. Within the pamphlet, Sullenger refers to her target audience as “well-intentioned people,” which seems like a neutral reference, but the subtle term unfolds as a negative, dividing believers into two groups, those who support and participate in Operation

Rescue’s activism and those who mean well, but do not do the right thing. This categorical division will be considered more closely in the analysis section of this study.

For now, it is enough to note that, later within the text, the rhetor warns the “well- intentioned people” of impending judgment, where they will share in the penalty of the

“wicked.” Nonetheless, the reference anticipates the scene; that is, it is directed to the churchgoer reading the pamphlet.

Section one. The first section, Biblical and Historical Precedent, provides examples of the implementation of social change via graphic imagery. There are a total of 717 words within Section One representing approximately 20% of the artifact’s content. The first example is a biblical narrative found in the book of Judges in the Old

Testament. This is the first of four references to Judges 19-20. It is interesting to note how the rhetor frames the narrative, what details the rhetor includes in her paraphrasing, and what the rhetor omits from the biblical account.

Sullenger gives an account about a traveler, a Levite, and his concubine

(described by the rhetor as a prostitute), who took refuge at a residence somewhere in the land of Benjamin. A mob sought the man with the intention to rape him. Sullenger stated, “Instead, the concubine, a harlot, was sent.” Sullenger explains that the mob raped the woman repeatedly throughout the night. The next morning, her master, the

Levite, found her dead at the threshold of the home. The Levite, seeking justice, dismembered the body of his concubine and sent the body parts throughout the twelve tribes of Israel. Sullenger emphasizes the reaction of the people of the nation of Israel, stating, “Once the assembled people heard the Levite’s story they ‘rose as one man’

(Judges 20:8) in unity of purpose against the Benjamites where the Lord justly gave them victory over their wicked and corrupt enemy” (Sullenger, p. 1).

Sullenger points out what she considers four “noteworthy” elements of the narrative which are used as a schema of action that she applies to Operation Rescue. She stated:

● There was a perceived injustice (in this case a brutal murder).

● A graphic display was sent throughout the land, which exposed the injustice.

● The graphic display acted as a catalyst uniting the people in purpose.

● The united people were spurred to action, bringing about social justice or change.

(p.2)

The rhetor’s first example of the brutal and gruesome story of the rape and murder of the traveler’s concubine omits several details within the biblical account. The biblical account stated that, when the mob demanded the delivery of the traveler to them, the host of the house offered to substitute his daughter, and the Levite’s concubine, pleading that they leave his guest, the Levite, alone. However, it was the Levite who “seized his concubine and brought her out to them” (Judges 19:25). The rhetor omits this detail.

Instead, the rhetor praises the act of the Levite dismembering the woman’s body, sending the pieces of her body throughout the nation of Israel.

The second example is a brief narrative regarding William Wilberforce, a late

18th century, early 19th century English politician, who, according to the author,

“labored with little fruit against slavery in England until he began taking his friends to visit the actual slave ships and view first-hand the public mistreatment suffered by the slaves” (Sullenger, 2000, p. 2).

The rhetor’s next example is the graphic news broadcast of the Vietnam War.

Sullenger credits the graphic images broadcast on the major television networks as the catalyst that ended America’s involvement in the conflict. She also gave the example of the Civil Rights movement, stating, “King used the media to force America to confront racism.” It is a comparison frequently used by Operation Rescue since the early days with Randall Terry. Sullenger then lists the animal rights activists and their success utilizing graphic images as a stimulus to the moratorium on the hunting of whales and

48 deterrent to the animal fur trade industry. She ended this example with sarcasm in the form of a rhetorical question, stating, “Could it be that the pre-born children of America are of less value than a seal, a whale, or even a rabbit?” (p. 3).

The last example touches on the very core of Christianity, the person of Jesus

Christ and his crucifixion. Sullenger stated, “Few Christians complain of the graphic depiction of Christ on the cross, which is displayed publicly in so many of our churches.

Those who contend that Christ would never publicly display graphic material, especially in view of children conveniently forget this image of our crucified Savior” (p. 3).

Sullenger uses the example of the crucifix not only as a defense for displaying the graphic images to the public but as a defense in displaying the graphic images in spaces where children of all ages can see them.

In Section 1, Sullenger presents a case for the power of images to proliferate social change. Such images, according to Sullenger, not only bring forth social change but also cultivate unity within a community. According to Operation Rescue, only the explicit visual illustrations have the impressive ability to “expose the grim truth about the plight of the pre-born” (Sullenger, 2002, p. 4). Sullenger ends the section by referring, for a second time, to the schema of action she derived from the passage in the book of Judges.

Section two. Section 2, Biblical Mandate, is the shortest of all the sections containing a single paragraph, a total of 98 words, making up only about 3% of the artifact’s content. Within the section, Sullenger quotes Ephesians 5:11 of the New

Testament: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” She declares the scripture a “Biblical Mandate” (p. 3).

Within the section, the rhetor criticizes the media for the lack of “images of injustice against the pre-born to the public.” She also praises those few Christians who

“expose the grim truth about the plight of the pre-born.” Sullenger ended the paragraph by promoting the graphic images of aborted fetuses as a viable tool for Christians to use in fulfilling the biblical mandate.

Section three. In section 3, Positive Effects, there are 955 words making up approximately 26% of the artifact’s content. With a presumption that her audience is anti-abortion, Sullenger presents statistical data as evidence for positive outcomes correlated with the large graphic image campaign. She references statistics from the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (a pro- choice research and reporting organization). For instance, Sullenger stated:

The national abortion ratio (number of abortions per 1000 live births) decreased

from 314 in 1996, the first year the large graphic photos began appearing across

America, to 305 in 1997, the lowest of any year since 1975. Also in 1997, (the

last year for which official statistics are available), the number of abortions fell

to 1,184,758, a decrease of 3% from 1996 and nearly 15 % from the 1990

figures. (p. 4)

She then proceeds to correlate the chronology of Operation Rescue’s activities with the decrease in abortions within the nation, stating:

Several noteworthy things began happening around 1996.

1. The large graphic photos of aborted babies began to be used on the public

streets of hundreds of cities across America through Operation Rescue’s

“Show the Truth” campaign.

2. Operation Rescue began displaying the large photos at high school and

college campuses, targeting the age group of women most likely to seek an

abortion.

3. The partial birth abortion debate erupted in the United States Congress.

Graphic drawings of the partial birth abortion procedure began to be widely

publicized. (p. 4, 5)

Sullenger preemptively refutes any argument of a spurious correlation by applying a bold font to the statement, “The correlation between the advent of several graphic display campaigns and the drop in the abortion rate appears not to be coincidental but causal!” She follows up with statistics gathered from the observation of Operation

Rescue’s “sidewalk counselors,” Operation Rescue activist strategically positioned just outside of abortion clinic property. The data includes activist reports of “babies saved” and increases in the number of pro-life activists. Sullenger stated:

By 2000, the number of Christians ministering at clinics in the San Diego area on

a monthly basis had grown to approximately 100. At least three clinics were

covered on a weekly or twice weekly basis. Over 50 babies were documented as

being saved from abortion at clinics where graphic signs were used. The

elements of Judges 19-20 are evident:

1. Christians have identified the injustice of abortion.

2. Graphic displays of the injustice have been publicly introduced.

3. Christians, pricked in their hearts over the plight of the unborn have united in

purpose against abortion.

4. In increasing numbers Christians are taking to the streets, multiplying the

effect, and bringing about changes, which include fewer abortions. (p. 6, 7)

Sullenger ends this section providing a bar graph as shown in fig. 1. below. The caption specifically ties those who “have decided against abortions” to “Operation Rescue’s graphic sign displays.”

Figure 1 – Bar graph. Bar graph shows women that have decided against

abortions from 1991 – 2000 (Operation Rescue, 2000, 2002c).

Section four. Section 4 entitled “Negative Effects?” (p. 7) contains 1,515 words which make up 41% of the artifact’s content. Within this section, Sullenger presents what she calls four common objections to the use of large graphic images and then proceeds to provide counter-arguments to these views. Sullenger sketches the first two objections:

It is sometimes suggested that because some people react to the graphic displays

with anger and hostility, this negative reaction negates any good done by the

signs and may in fact drive women to obtain abortions. Some have suggested that

the negative response of the public to the signs actually will cause the pro-life

movement to lose the war against abortion because it is a poor Christian

testimony to the world” (p. 7).

She then proceeds to provide a rebuttal to the first two objections. First, she refers back to the statistics showing the positive results in section three countering the claim that the images drive women to obtain abortions. Then, regarding the “poor Christian testimony to the world” argument, Sullenger responds with a salvo of biblical scripture:

Scripturally, John 3:19-20 is revealing:

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men

loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone

practicing evil hates the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does

the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have

been done in God. (p. 8)

She then refers to Ephesians 5:11 emphasizing the mandate she presented in section two, stating “those who commit the evil deeds will hate those who expose them” (p. 8). She backs her statement with a scripture verse in the Gospel of John, stating:

Jesus explains why this is so in John 15:18-19:

If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were

of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the

world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (p. 8)

She follows with a verse out of second Timothy 3:12, “‘yes, and all who live godly in

Christ Jesus will [emphasis in original] suffer persecution’” (p. 9). Sullenger then makes an explicit reference to the graphic signs as a prophetic message and proceeds to quote

Ezekiel 3:16-19:

Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to

me saying, “Son of Man, I made you a watchman for the house of Israel;

therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me; When I

say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor

speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked

man shall die in his iniquity; But his blood will I require at your hand. Yet, if

you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from

his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your

soul.” [emphasis in original] (p. 9)

Sullenger then paraphrases, stating: “The Scriptures are clear. If a man fails to warn the wicked, he commits sin and shares in the guilt. If a man does warn, he is obedient and therefore held guiltless” (p. 9). Sullenger then reveals the alleged third objection:

Some have attempted to accuse Christians that use graphic photos of actually

causing abortions. This is saying that the warning messenger, fulfilling

Ephesians 5:11 and Ezekiel 3:19, is responsible for the sin of abortion. This turns

the scriptural teaching of responsibility on its ear! Women may continue on with

an abortion in spite of being warned of the consequences, but not because of the

warning just as wicked Judah continued her rebellion to God in spite of Ezekiel’s

warnings. To blame Christians who hold the graphic signs of causing abortions is

like holding Ezekiel responsible for the Jews being taken captive by the

Babylonians. It is an absurdity! [emphasis in original] (p. 10)

By relating the alleged accusations against Christian activists with the prophet Ezekiel,

Sullenger reiterates the prophet’s warnings, paralleling the captivity of Israel to the impending judgment reserved for abortion supporters. Sullenger then counters her last alleged objection, stating:

Another aspect of the argument against the signs is that they cause people who

may have had abortions or were involved in an abortion decision to experience

unpleasant or hurtful feelings after viewing the pictures in an uncontrolled

environment. Again, this can hardly be considered a negative aspect. Is it really

desirable to have a society of people that can murder their offspring at will, then

have positive feelings about it? (p. 10)

After explaining her view that people “need to feel bad about the abortion they were involved in” (p. 10), Sullenger moves on to another scriptural quotation, this time 2

Corinthians 7:9-11:

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to

repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer

loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to

salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. (p. 11)

After making an association of “godly sorrow” with the emotions of guilt and sorrow that are brought on to women and others associated with an abortion by the display of the graphic photos, Sullenger shifts to a more empathetic tone. Sullenger closes this section using words like sorrow, forgiveness, repentance, salvation, and phrases like

“broken hearts.”

Section five. Section five headlines an objection not listed in the previous section. The section title is “But Children View These!” (p. 11) appearing in a large, bold font. In this section, there are 295 words making up approximately 8% of the artifact’s content. According to Sullenger, some object to displaying graphic images in public because it is harmful to children. Sullenger responds to this claim stating that

“Children only become upset when the parents respond angrily, stop to verbally abuse the sign holders, or even physically attack the signs” (p. 12). According to Sullenger, the signs do not frighten kids; parents do. Sullenger concludes that the graphic signs help

56 children in their emotional development. According to Sullenger, children who are exposed to the graphic images “develop a deeper sense of compassion for women and babies affected by abortion” (p. 12). She bases her counter-argument solely on the testimony of parents associated with the organization.

Section six. This section, the conclusion, contains 273 words making up approximately 7% of the artifact’s content. Sullenger concludes the text by summarizing her main points. She reiterates that the graphic signs are effective tools: they are helping to transform society. She refers to biblical scripture as support for the use of the signs, stating, “the signs stand as a prophetic warning to America against the sin of child- killing” (p. 13), and she expresses dismay about the criticism from those who oppose the signs: “Those who do not support the graphic photos have been publicly expressing their disagreement and disapproval of the signs with increasing frequency and acrimony” (p.

13). Sullenger then calls for unity and appeals to scripture for the last time within the text. She quotes Matthew 12:25, stating, “But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand” (p. 13). The scripture is followed by a stern warning to others in the pro-life movement to stand united or possibly face the wrath of

God. Sullenger ends with a final appeal by demanding respect to those who display the graphic signs but then stated, “if not respect, then (at least) their silence” (p. 13).

The last section is a page that contains a list of “Other Resources Available from

Operation Rescue and Restoration press.” There are five resources listed. The first two publications listed are information pieces that deal with the idea of “bloodguilt.” They

57 are entitled Their Blood Cries Out! and Am I Now Your Enemy for Telling You the

Truth? The last two resources are targeted to the work of activists. The publication entitled Sidewalk Counseling Manual is a How-To manual for activists confronting women entering and exiting abortion clinics. The last resource on the list is Consider All the Consequences, “a tri-fold brochure designed for use by sidewalk counselors.” All the publications listed are available for purchase, and the price for each item is listed.

With this description of the artifact, we turn next to understanding its structure and processes more fully. The artifact is a response to an anticipated audience reaction to the scene. The identification of the language choices made by the rhetor provides an insight to the rhetor’s perspective of the scene, what is seen as the problem (the ultimate evil) and what is seen as the solution (the ultimate good).

In charting the key terms—those terms frequently used and those terms of significant intensity—emerging patterns are revealed (Burke, 1984). Those patterns provide insight into the rhetor’s motive in producing the artifact. Once the patterns are discerned in light of their various clusters, we will examine them through Burke’s logological framework, providing insight into the linguistic functions and implications of the text.

Clusters

The cluster analysis uncovered 443 substantive words, that is, words remaining after the removal of definite and indefinite articles, prepositions, pronouns, and exclamations. Thus, substantive words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. From these words, six terms were identified as keywords based on their frequency and

58 intensity within the artifact as a whole. Four of the keywords were considered in establishing thematic indexes which were then in turn juxtaposed against the tautological cycle of terms for order as described in Burke’s logological theory, as a basis of interpretation.

The abortion cluster. The term abortion appears 64 times in the text, making up approximately 14% of the substantive words within the text. The word abortion is used antithetically, that is, the devil-term serves a positive function when used with terms describing the graphic images used in Operation Rescue’s pro-life activism. This is important to point out because the cluster analysis classifies substantial terms as either god-terms or devil-terms.

The term abortion apart from terms referring to graphic images, are devil-terms but when used in the phrase “… the graphic aborted baby photos…” the image of the aborted child is accredited for a positive outcome. Operation Rescue argues that the signs of aborted children deter women from having abortions. The term abortion appears antithetically 31 times. Twenty three of the 31 times the term abortion is used antithetically, it is within the context of preventing abortions. The sentences containing terms within the abortion cluster are presented in Appendix D.

The graphic image cluster. The term graphic is used 39 times within the text, representing nine percent of the significant words. Graphic is used as an adjective describing the word sign 25 times; 20 times the word graphic is used prior to the word display; and, finally, the word is used as an adjective to the noun photo 18 times. All the preceding terms often appear clustered close together. For instance, the words graphic

59 and photo appear together as in the sentence “The large graphic photos expose the heinous truth about abortion in an unsurpassed way” (p. 3). The two terms, graphic and photos, appear within the same sentence together 15 times, once along with the word sign, and once with the word display (in the noun form). The term graphic and sign appear in the same sentence together a total of 10 times; including once with the term photo, and once with the term display (in the noun form). The combined total of words that reference the graphic images (including the word image which is used six times in reference to the signs) is 108 times making up 25% of all substantive words within the text. The sentences containing terms within the graphic image cluster are presented in

Appendix E.

The exposure cluster. The word expose appears 13 times. Eleven of these occurrences are in the context of fulfilling the mandate, be it explicit or implied. The remaining two occurrences appear in the same sentence with terms for the graphic signs.

The word display is used ten times in the form of a verb as in the sentence, “Sidewalk counselors who display the graphic aborted baby photos…” (p. 5). The word expose and display (in the verb form, e.g., displaying and displayed) were counted synonymously for a total count of 23 times making up 5% of the substantive words. The sentences containing terms within the exposure cluster are presented in Appendix F.

The mandate cluster. The term mandate appears four times in the text, once as the title to section two of the text, once within the table of contents, and only twice within the context of the message. Although the word appears infrequently, it emerges as a pivotal point of direction to the telos of the discourse. Mandate appears in the

60 second section of the artifact under the large bold heading “Biblical Mandate” (p. 3).

The graphic signs are presented as instruments used by a “handful of Christians” that expose the “heinous truth about abortion” and thus carry out a divinely ordained mandate of God given in Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (p. 3). The photos are the tools by which

Christians are to fulfill this mandate of God. The word mandate is explicit and connected with the biblical literalism embraced by the rhetor. Since the source of the mandate is God, the purpose of the artifact shifts suddenly away from an apologia regarding the use of the graphic photos and toward the proclamation of a divine mandate for Christians to take part in pro-life activism. The fulfillment of the mandate becomes the central theme within the text and the foundational argument, the reason, and purpose for the discourse.

The term graphic images and exposure are often used within the text in close proximity to each other. Graphic images are the object that must be exposed to fulfill the mandate. The artifact is, in a sense, a draft notice. Christians are mandated as the result of the artifact in-and-of-itself. At one point within the content of the artifact, the rhetor stated that Christians who do not obey the mandate from God will be judged as equal in guilt to sinners who commit these atrocities. But obedience to the mandate delivers one from judgment. Mandate, therefore, is a term of highest intensity. All other rhetorical devices within the text become secondary once the mandate appears in the artifact. This will be further explored in the interpretation section of this study. The sentences containing terms within the mandate cluster are presented in Appendix G.

The unborn child cluster. Several other terms appear relatively high in frequency, including the term for the fetus, including all terms used synonymously such as baby, babies, the unborn, and the term pre-born. There are 31 such occurrences. In the context of the fetus, the word baby/babies are stated 19 times. The word children appear six times including once following the term unborn, and the term unborn occurs twice, including once preceding the term child. The term pre-born appears four times.

The terms for fetus were used in close proximity to terms for abortion, and graphic photos, such as in the sentence, “The Use of Graphic Photos of Aborted Children” (title page). The terms used for fetuses are referenced as either a victim of abortions due to the lack of the display of graphic signs or rescued from abortion due to the presence of graphic signs.

The Christian cluster. The word Christian is used 22 times within the text, making up approximately 4% of the substantive words within the text. The rhetor uses the term to imply those that carry out the mandate of God, as in the sentence “Christians displaying the graphic photos of aborted children perform the unpopular but necessary function of confronting a public in denial about abortion who so desperately need to seek forgiveness at the cross” (p. 11). Other than using the term Christian, the rhetor makes references to Christians that stand in opposition to the display of graphic signs in other ways, for instance, she uses the terms “well-intentioned people” (p. 1), “those who contend” (p. 3), “Some have suggested”, (p. 8), and “those that oppose….” All the preceding terms, when read in context, are alternative terms implying Christians who are opposed to the graphic displays. There is only one sentence in which the rhetor uses the

62 word Christian in the context of a dissenting believer. In this incident, she stated,

“Christians who seek the approval and accolades of the world or wish to avoid its persecution are in danger of conforming to and compromising with a system God has called them out of” (p. 9). In all the other instances, the term Christian refers to the person mandated to carry out the “prophetic message” (p. 9), that is, the graphic signs of aborted babies. Therefore, the term Christian is absorbed in the keyword mandate, and terms for the graphic images display. The emphasis lands primarily on the “prophetic message” (p. 9) and not the messenger. “Christians obey the scriptural mandate of

Ephesians 5:11 and expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness…” (p. 8). The role of the

Christian is to obey the mandate: to perceive the injustice, and to graphically expose it— as a catalyst that will unite the people and bring about social justice.

In summary, of the 443 substantive terms, 183, or 41%, are subsumed within the six clusters identified (see table 1 and 2 below).

Table 1

Percent of Total Substantive Terms

Keyword Occurrences Percentage to all Substantive Terms

Abortion 64 14%

Graphic image 39 09%

Exposure 23 05%

Mandate 4 intensity

Unborn Child 31 07%

Christian 22 04%

Table 2

Percentage of all Cluster terms

Keyword Occurrences Percentage to all Cluster Terms

Abortion 64 77%

Graphic image 39 21%

Exposure 23 13%

Mandate 4 intensity

Unborn Child 31 31%

Christian 22 22%

With the clusters before us, we can begin to see thematic elements that draw the clusters into synthesis and dialogue and lead to the creation of a Keyword Index of crucial terms.

The Christian cluster and the Unborn child cluster, important as they are, are not included as an indexed theme. These clusters are distributed in all three indexes. The clusters of Exposure and Graphic Image are closely related. The mandate cluster becomes a central theme.

Keyword Indexing

Indexing, as we have seen, provides a powerful step in understanding how clusters of terms interact, reinforce, and depend on each other (Garlitz, 2004; Mullican

1981; Burke, Hyman, & Karmiller, 1964). In this section, we will examine the clusters above and group them into specific indexes that will provide the basis for our logological interpretation in the following chapter.

Abortion index. The Abortion Index includes all the sentences that contain the word abortion and any references that imply the term abortion such as the term “the sin of child-killing” (p. 13). It thus includes many references from the unborn child cluster as well. These clusters are clearly identified with negative ultimates: these are the devil- terms (Burke, 1945, Foss 2018, Weaver 1953).

Some indexes contain text that appears in other indexes as multiple themes are implied by the text, for instance, the sentence, “The large graphic photos are crucial tools, which have successfully allowed Christians to fulfill the Biblical mandate to expose evil” (p. 4). In this example, the themes of the index overlap. Although the keyword abortion does not appear in the sentence, abortion is implied by the word evil.

When terms for abortion reference the imagery presented on the graphic photos, an overlap between the Abortion Index and the Prophetic Message Index occurs. In such instances the term abortion, which is a devil-term, becomes antithetical to the evil the image depicts. The phrases associated with the Abortion Index are listed in Appendix H.

The prophetic message index. The Prophetic Message Index includes the cluster of terms for graphic images and exposure, as the graphic images only serve a purpose if displayed. The prophet metaphor is used as part of the index title as the graphic images were referred to as “prophetic messages” (p. 9) by the rhetor. The implications of the metaphor are significant to the ultimacy of the artifact as we will see.

Phrases associated with the Prophetic Message Index are listed in Appendix I.

The mandate index. The theme of mandate emerges at the end of page three, starting with reference to Ephesians 5:11. Sullenger stated, “The large graphic photos are crucial tools, which have successfully allowed Christians to fulfill the Biblical mandate to expose evil” (p. 4). The mandate is to “expose evil” by using large graphic photos to show the effects of abortion. The large graphic photos of aborted fetuses are referred to by the rhetor as “a prophetic message” (p. 9). The Mandate Index reflects the four references within the mandate cluster as well as sentences that imply the fulfilling of the mandate. Terms that explicitly and implicitly fulfill God’s mandate are the ultimate terms of order. However, the Mandate Index overlaps with the Abortion Index and the Graphic Image Index. For now, if we restrict our focus to the overlap of terms of disorder, abortion, with the terms of order, the mandate, an association is made with the sin of abortion and disobedient Christians refusing to fulfill the mandate. What emerges is the ultimate disorder relative to the text. Several of the scripture verses quoted by the rhetor are included in this index. In addition to Ephesians 5:11, there is also Ezekiel

3:16-19, which reads:

Therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me; When I

say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor

speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked

man shall die in his iniquity; But his blood will I require at your hand. Yet, if you

warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked

way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul (p. 9).

The mandate implicates the Christians as having blood on their hands for not warning abortion supporters of the impending judgment upon those who are involved with, or tolerate, abortion. The non-activist Christian becomes a disobedient accomplice responsible, to some degree, for the disorder, and thus worthy of the condemnation coming to the pro-choice supporters. The fallen condition of the Christian necessitates the action of victimage, a self-sacrificial willingness to fulfill the mandate proclaimed within the artifact and, thus, to perfect the order of terms. Phrases associated with the

Mandate Index are listed in Appendix J.

The three indexes, the Mandate Index, Abortion Index, and the Prophetic

Message Index, are central themes within the piece and suggest a powerful interpretation: these indexes are structured logologically, paralleling Burke’s Cycle

Terms of Order: Order, Disorder, Victimage, respectively. Often, the terms of order are microcosmic within a sentence, for instance in the phrase, “Christians displaying the graphic photos of aborted children perform the unpopular but necessary function of confronting a public in denial about abortion who so desperately need to seek forgiveness at the cross” (p. 11). The Christian who is willing to suffer scorn

(mortification) is performing the act of warning (which fulfills the mandate—the ultimate term of order), by displaying the “graphic photos of aborted children” (the antithesis to the devil term abortion). The complete cycle is also apparent in more general terms in the phrase, “The duty of the Christian is to expose and to warn”

67 implying all three themes: duty calls up mortification (disorder), and exposing the sin of abortion is the act of victimage that fulfills the mandate. Although abortion is the devil- term within the text, it is the Christian’s fallen state of disobedience to the mandate that necessitates mortification as we will see in chapter three.

Chapter Three

INTERPRETATION

The Prophetic Message Index contains the rhetorical argument for displaying the graphic images of aborted fetuses upon large signs (becoming a call to life in an ultimate example of Burke’s master trope of irony). But when the Mandate Index is transposed over the other two indexes—that is the Abortion Index and the Prophetic Message Index, which includes terms for graphic images and terms for the exposure of these images— the focus of the discourse shifts from a rhetorical argument on the use of graphic images, to the fallen condition of the Christian and the need to obey the mandate.

The clustering and indexing of terms uncover several areas of interest. The analysis reveals two symbolic acts taking place within the rhetor’s cycle of terms. There is a rhetorical action defending the use of graphic images and a demonstrative action proclaiming a biblical mandate. First, we will examine the emergence of prophetic agency within the rhetoric. Afterwards, we turn attention to the biblical mandate and the implications to the relevancy of Operation Rescue’s rhetorical argument.

The Emergence of Prophetic Agency

The prophetic voice is a well-established rhetorical trope. In their examination of the use of religious language in presidential speeches, Coe and Domke (2011) analyze religious rhetoric within inaugural and State of the Union addresses of President

Franklin Roosevelt, President Ronald Reagan, and President George W. Bush. They note that all three presidents use what the researchers refer to as God Talk. Coe and

Domke (2006) note that President Reagan and President Bush often linked their use of

God Talk to freedom and liberty:

We characterize this as a prophetic [emphasis in original] presidential posture,

distinguished by declarations of God’s wishes. In contrast, we suggest that other

presidents generally have spoken from a petitioner posture. Such posture

distinctions underlying presidential religious rhetoric would have significant

implications for political debate about freedom and liberty, as well as any

policies to which these principles are attached (p. 315).

Reagan and Bush demonstrate an agency that exhibits confidence in obtaining divine favor by proceeding in a particular manner: cultivating and preserving principles of freedom and liberty (Coe & Domke, 2006).

Brian Jackson (2010), assistant professor in the English Department at Brigham

Young University, uses two primary criteria as identifying markers of prophetic agency:

“Prophets speak God’s will” and “God’s will has specific political implications” (p. 50).

He frames prophetic agency as a utility that generates strong feelings of religious conviction and describes three qualities of prophecy:

First, prophets champion the needs of the poor, the widow, the downtrodden,

weak, and powerless. Second, as outsiders, prophets use the power of words to

disrupt or destabilize the status quo and shake up the social order, reminding the

people of the covenants they have made with God. Finally, and most importantly

in the classical tradition, prophets first and foremost act as God's messengers. (p.

51)

Contemporary critics and theorists, according to Jackson, substitute ideological implications for divine ones when analyzing prophetic discourse in contemporary texts.

While preserving the “qualities of the classical topos,” those same critics and theorists, however, gloss over the third element (p. 51). Jackson considers this a mistake that can lead critics astray, and he argues that it is the recognition of the authority of the divine voice that makes it possible to forge unity between competing definitions and hierarchies.

Prophetic agency within rhetoric presents the potential for a religious-like bond of identification. Although the interest of this study focuses on the emergence of prophetic agency in a religious context, prophetic agency emerges in figurative language and epideictic speeches as a utility with the potential to establish identification, even with an audience that has few other universal commonalities (Jackson, 2010). In other words, the prophetic can be a broad rhetorical call to identification. The implications of a prophetic type of rhetorical agency are apparent as the small sampling above suggests.

These structures of a rhetorical frame of the prophetic voice can be seen in the present artifact, of course. The artifact also demonstrates the basic structural formula of prophetic judgment speech found within the prophetic books of the Old Testament, as outlined by Westermann (1991). Thus, there is a clear rhetorical use of the prophetic voice as understood in the literature. The Abortion Index, the Prophetic Message Index, and their interactions create a standard rhetorical trope of the prophetic voice. But when we look even closer, we see the specific crafting of this artifact implies and invokes an

71 agency that reaches beyond literary constructs for its power, purpose, and rhetorical authority.

Beyond Rhetorical Agency

Although the artifact yields a rhetorical argument on the use of graphic signs, the ultimate motive that unfolds linguistically reaches beyond a mere trope or rhetorical genre. The ultimate motive is the delivery of God’s mandate to Christians, empowering a prophetic agency with more than tropic or generic power. The clusters examined strongly imply that Operation Rescue’s artifact is actually less concerned with justifying their actions in displaying the graphic signs than it is concerned with proclaiming a prophetic warning to other Christians. It is not to say that the artifact has no rhetorical strategy or that the emergence of prophetic agency fails to infuse the rhetorical appeal.

But the author reaches for a larger authority, as we shall see: God’s mandate, delivered to God’s people, by God’s prophet. This invokes not a literary prophetic voice (as powerful as that is), but a literal prophetic voice that can traffic in ultimate demands with ultimate consequences. How this latter idea of prophetic agency is constructed within the artifact deserves further explanation.

The rhetor builds a rhetorical case for the use of graphic signs, supporting her argument with biblical narratives, scriptures, statistics, and historic examples. The rhetorical appeals within biblical narratives and scriptures cater to the intensity to which

Evangelicals and Christian fundamentalists hold to their community’s discourse. Most

Evangelicals embrace the inerrancy of scripture. The concept of inerrancy is interpreted far more broadly in the evangelical movement than it is in the stricter fundamentalist

72 expressions of Christianity. Nevertheless, Evangelicals generally hold that the Christian scriptures are a complete guide to life, and what the scriptures instruct or command is absolutely binding. The true Christian believer will strive to follow these commands.

For the evangelical sub-community of Christianity, the bible is the literal Word of God.

Therefore, the utility of a prophetic type of rhetorical agency is a striking element of rhetorical empowerment and a cultivation of identification moving toward consubstantiation: a way for the believer to share substance and be united to God. As a utility of rhetorical empowerment, the emergence of a prophetic agency occurs early within the text.

The rhetor quotes Ezekiel 22:2. The metaphoric implication of this single scripture is considerable. The passage that follows this verse (Ezekiel 22:3) is apostrophic. The author asks God a question, and God responds with instructions as to what the prophet is to say to the city on His behalf. Ezekiel was instructed to charge

Jerusalem for her crimes. The prophet was given authority by God to judge the “bloody city.” Within the context of Ezekiel, a list of offenses against the inhabitants of the city is enumerated, starting from the fourth to the eleventh verse. The charges range from murder, prostitution, and oppression of widows and orphans to violating the Sabbath, giving false witness, and idolatry.

Idolatry, the worship of pagan gods, was strictly prohibited. One of the pagan gods worshiped was the Canaanite god Moloch. The worship of Moloch included human sacrifice. The graven image’s outstretched hands were somehow set ablaze. The baby was set upon the image’s flaming hands and burned to death as a sacrificial offering to

Moloch (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown, 1997). The scripture verse holds horrifying implications. Ezekiel was charged by God to confront the community within Jerusalem with their transgressions by proclaiming and exposing them to the people of Jerusalem.

The proclamation of the mandate found in the second section of the artifact deliberately parallels the passage in Ezekiel. The source of the mandate is clear. God is the source.

The mandate was given to Ezekiel to act as an agent for God and proclaim the transgressions of Jerusalem against God’s law. Ezekiel carried out the mandate as the direct agent of God, exposing the sins of Jerusalem.

The choice of the scripture verse is obviously deliberate. The implication is clearly that the artifact carries a parallel agency to the agency demonstrated in Ezekiel, and this contributes to the emergence of the rhetor’s prophetic agency in the delivery of her rhetorical defense—an agency that rests on authority beyond the literary structures of the text. Other references to biblical narratives and her use of Old and New

Testament scripture reinforce this sense of participation with the divine story and voice.

The rhetor solidifies her implication of agency in referring to the graphic signs of aborted fetuses as “prophetic messages” (p. 9), suggesting the power of prophetic agency in displaying the signs to the public.

Rhetorical agency within the prophetic message index. We can think of the content of the artifact in loglogical terms, as a cyclical hierarchy of terms unfolding within the narrative: Order, Disorder, and Victimage. At the pinnacle of the hierarchal cycle is the perfect, the Title of titles. It is a term for the essence of the discourse’s

74 motive, based on generalized moral values placed upon parts of the rhetor’s language within the text.

The indexes compose a taut tension of terms that function in cycles analogous to the theological terms of the Christian redemptive cycle. The cluster analysis reveals three dominant indexes that correspond quite well to the cyclical terms of Order. They are: Mandate, Abortion, and Prophetic Message. At the pinnacle of the cyclical hierarchy of terms are the terms within the Mandate Index. However, to understand the nature of the Mandate Index, it is important to examine the rhetorical value of the

Prophetic Message Index, which corresponds to the victimage term. In other words, to obtain a full comprehension of the highest Order of terms, a closer look at the terms within the victimage cycle is required.

The victimage cycle of terms. The Prophetic Message Index conjugates the elements of rhetorical persuasion. The emergence of rhetorical agency is concentrated on terms related to the Prophetic Message Index. The Prophetic Message Index contains terms related to the exposure cluster and the graphic-signs cluster. Both sets of terms are considered god-terms and are integral to each other.

The rhetorical defense presented for the use of the graphic signs is a combination of statistics and historical and biblical examples presented as evidence that justifies the public display of the graphic images. The rhetor also offers an emotional appeal, as terms for sorrow and anger revolve around the terms for graphic images, usually within the context of causation. The prophetic message will lead sinners to “express sorrow for their sins” or it will cause them to harden their hearts. (p. 9). Another example packed

75 with emotional appeal is found in the sentence, “Christians displaying the graphic photos of aborted children perform the unpopular but necessary function of confronting a public in denial about abortion who so desperately need to seek forgiveness at the cross” (p. 11). The exposure of the graphic images brings forth repentance and restoration to those “converted to the pro-life position” (p. 4). Linguistically, terms for exposure are within the cycle of terms for victimage, scapegoating, and mortification.

Several sections within the text express mortification on behalf of the abortion supporters (this includes women who have had abortions or have changed their mind and decided against having an abortion). The rhetor stated, “People need to feel bad about the abortion they were involved in. Only once they face what they have done and admit it was wrong could they ever find forgiveness and healing” (p. 10). The guilt cycle is thus revealed within the text as references are made to the exposure of the signs.

This act leads the wicked (pro-choice advocates, medical staff, woman who have or are considering abortion) to repentance. One can see this same process in other places:

“many men and women have indeed repented from the sin of abortion and have sought healing” after viewing the images, we are told, and, they have followed repentance with the act of “confronting a public in denial about abortion” (p. 11). For instance, the rhetor’s statement, “A variety of things occur once the light has been shown on the evil deed of abortion. For many people, their hearts are broken. Abortion supporters have been converted to the pro-life position” (p. 4), suggest exactly the sort of mortification required.

While the guilt cycle is manifested in the mortifications seen in former abortion supporters, there is a second tier of victimage that unfolds within the text: the mortification offered by those Christians who participate in pro-life activism. There is a real degree of effort, social discomfort, and persecution in the act of exposing the graphic images of aborted fetuses, the rhetor notes. She stated: “Christians displaying the graphic photos of aborted children perform the unpopular but necessary function of confronting a public in denial about abortion” (p. 11).

Other terms within the victimage cycle include phrases such as, “those who commit the evil deeds will hate those who expose them” (p. 8). Sullenger stated that,

“Christians who expose sin can expect to be hated and persecuted by the world…. When

Christians obey the scriptural mandate of Ephesians 5:11 and expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness, those who commit the evil deeds will hate those who expose them…” (p.

8). Operation Rescue’s pro-life public protest is confrontational in nature, as are prophetic acts.

As Jackson (2010) points out, “prophets appeal to an authority beyond the common judgment, their words can trigger a crisis of identity that can be resolved, as the prophets claim, only through a collective decision to repent and reform” (p. 50). The redemptive terms within the guilt cycle revolve around the act of blaming. The graphic images are successful in generating guilt and shame from the “wicked” (p. 1, 9, 12). The principles of victimage emerge from the rhetorical defense in terms of the graphic signs as a tool to impose a sense of guilt, propagating repentance from the wicked, and as a redemptive act of obedience to the proclamation of God’s mandate.

The rhetorical defense within the artifact falls within the Prophetic Message

Index, a combination of the graphic photos clusters (the antithesis to the ultimate evil within the text) and the exposure cluster. When prophetic agency is considered as a rhetorical construct within the artifact, rhetorical appeals that cultivate religious conviction are manifest in terms that unfold within the redemption cycle of ordered terms, i.e., the Prophetic Message Index.

A juxtaposition of prophetic agency. A considerable amount of information regarding the emergence of rhetorical agency is gained by the insight provided by the prophetic voice as a literary construct, a metaphor of what might be called the true prophet. The prophetic-voice-as-metaphor, applied as a typology of rhetorical agency, provides breadth and meaning to the linguistic structure of rhetorical empowerment implied by such a rhetorical agency. Jim Wallis’s book God’s Politics employs such rhetorical devices in the service of his project to reconcile liberal politics with Christian earnestness. Jackson (2010) places a tremendous amount of weight in the rhetorical utility of prophetic agency—what Jackson calls prophetic alchemy—that emerges within

Wallis’ book:

It insists that social transformation depends on culture’s harmony with a divine

will embodied in a divine figure. Prophetic alchemy’s imperative is not natural

rights but a God that invokes not only the eternal origins of a people but also an

awesome and irresistible corrective force.” (p. 52)

The prophetic-voice-as-metaphor provides rich insight into how rhetorical agency emerges and into the rhetor’s potential gain of stature contributing to the persuasive impact upon their audience.

Jackson (2010) acknowledges there is little reason to believe Wallis presumed to be a literal prophet of God or that he was under any presumption of such a literal agency, but struggled with the temptation to conflate a literal prophetic agency with the implications of a rhetorical prophetic agency that emerge in Wallis’ text:

Though Wallis does not claim to be a prophet, his rhetoric follow patterns of

prophecy laid out in religious, rhetorical and literary studies. His alchemic

approach in God’s Politics corresponds with aspects of prophetic topoi, two in

particular: Prophets speak God’s will (an argument directed to a nonbelieving

audience, and God’s will has specific political implications (an argument

directed to his Christian Right audience) …Prophetic rhetoric provides a useful

context for situating Wallis’s sermons within a dialogue of other prophetic

voices that bring down uncompromising messages form literal or figurative holy

mountains. Because prophets appeal to an authority beyond the common

judgment, their words can trigger a crisis of identity that can be resolved, as the

prophets claim, only through a collective decision to repent and reform. (p. 50)

The religious language in Wallis (2004) reflects his core belief and may have literal connotations, but there are distinctions between the emergence of a prophetic type of rhetorical agency and implications, insinuations, presumptions, and assumptions made in the face of a belief in a literal prophetic agency.

But if the literary construct of a prophetic voice is something of a metaphor drawn from the idea of literal prophesy, that raises new angles of inquiry. According to

Stefan Larrson, PhD and researcher in Sociology of Law, at Lund University, Sweden

(Larrson, 2013), the metaphor has an intrinsic value in the application of meaning to that which is tenor:

In other words, a generalization that we can make regarding metaphor

comprehension is that it is mandatory in the sense that is ‘an automatic

interpretation’ made by us. This means that literal meaning has no priority; the

associative paths creating meaning are there anyway. Generally we do not

choose if we want to lean on the literal meaning. As mentioned, this is one

reason for why there is a lock-in effect embedded in the way metaphors function

that largely does not occur at an aware level of consciousness. (p. 365)

While Jackson (2010) rightly points out the strategic utility of prophetic agency within

Wallis’ rhetoric, he has no concern about the possible impact of implications regarding a literal claim to prophetic agency. Jackson regarded the implications to such connotations of divine transcendence as a “strategy” (p. 50).

In the case of Operation Rescue, there is substantial cause to look beyond the metaphoric value of prophetic agency and into the implications that arise when both a rhetor’s presumption and an audience’s assumption prescribe to a literal interpretation of prophetic agency.

The proclamation. Operation Rescue’s graphic display outside unsuspecting churches parallels the first account of Judges 19, 20 in that the graphic images are being used as a call to action. Typically, Operation Rescue’s demonstrations targeted abortion clinics, colleges, and universities, displaying the large photos in hopes to confront and convert pro-choice supporters. However, in this case, the graphic signs are not presented before abortion rights advocates but before local evangelical churches. The warning within the artifact (the very telos of the artifact) was not to those associated with abortion but to members of the Christian community. The deeper value and power of the artifact is not the rhetorical employment of a metaphoric device. Rather, the motive of the artifact rests solidly on delivering a divine mandate to Christians, one that supersedes the rhetorical defense in utilizing the graphic signs.

The terms that cluster under the Mandate Index are high in intensity as opposed to frequency. However, the index emerges as an overarching index in which all other indexes are subordinate. The Mandate Index contains the general term Burke referred to as the Title of titles. All terms unfold to the ultimate purpose of the artifact. In light of the implications within the Mandate Index, the persuasive value of the emergence of rhetorical agency becomes incidental.

The artifact proclaims a mandate from God. Following the account based

(loosely) on Judges 19-20, the rhetorical appeals shift in primacy. The audience is confronted with a biblical mandate. The narrative introduces the mandate in section two of the artifact. This is the first occurrence of the Mandate theme within the text, apart from implications that may be drawn from the opening scripture of Ezekiel 22. In

81 section two of the artifact, the text shifts away from rhetorical invention to the proclamation. The scripture that follows is one of many references that fall within the

Mandate Index. The cyclical terms of Order are compacted within the proclamation of what the rhetor considers the biblical mandate of Ephesians 5:11. The mandate unfolds as a prophetic message to God’s people, the Christian community, as evidenced by the emergence of prophetic judgment speech directed at the audience, as opposed to judgment speech directed to the pro-choice-Other. The rhetor couples the mandate with

Ezekiel 3:16.

Within the biblical account of Ezekiel 3:16, God is speaking a warning to the prophet Ezekiel. The rhetor quotes the scriptural passage:

Therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me; When I

say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you give him no warning, nor speak

to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man

shall die in his iniquity; But his blood will I require at your hand (p. 9)

The rhetor’s quote of Ezekiel 3 is a warning from God to the prophet. The mandate is to warn the wicked of their iniquity. Failing to do so places the guilt of the wicked upon the hands of the one who received the mandate. God is warning of impending judgment upon the prophet should he fail to obey God’s mandate. Likewise, the artifact functions as a warning of impending judgment upon Christians who fail to warn others about abortion. The rhetor emphasizes the next part of the scripture verse, placing it in bold print: “‘Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul’” (p. 9). If

Christians are obedient and display the graphic signs (prophetic messages exposing sin), then they are no longer accountable for the sin of abortion and no longer in danger of losing their souls. It cannot be overemphasized that this is not a metaphorical frame, but an ontological one. In that ultimate capacity, it takes complete charge of the whole message.

The message of mandate supersedes the rhetorical defense launched on behalf of the use of graphic images during public demonstrations. The latter may only support the former, not the other way around. If we are to consider the purpose of the artifact to be what the title implies, a rhetorical and biblical defense of the use of the graphic signs, then it would hold to reason that the Prophetic Message Index (the text regarding the graphic signs and text referring to exposure) would contain the other indexes as subordinates. If the Prophetic Message Index takes precedence over the Mandate Index, i.e., the Mandate Index is subordinated within the Prophetic Message Index, the terms under the Mandate Index are reduced to rhetorical hyperbole. Considering the strong identification with the Christian Evangelical movement, and the weight placed upon the authority of biblical scripture by that community, and the absolute conviction that God discloses his will in his Word, it is unlikely that the rhetor intended the mandate as a rhetorical device of hyperbole. Furthermore, in answering interview questions specifically regarding the artifact, merely providing reasons that justify the use of the signs was not the intent of the artifact as the title implies. The rhetor stated the document was used as a recruiting tool. Sullenger explained, “We were doing church outreaches and would display the signs outside selected churches…We hoped we could recruit

83 activists from these churches” (Sullenger, 2017, p. 2). The large graphic images were used in conjunction with the artifact proclaiming a mandate: the audience was to take up their (literally) prophetic calling.

The Hierarchical Cycle of Ordered Terms

The Mandate Index shifts the telos of the artifact. The rhetor’s rhetorical defense of the graphic signs, in which prophetic agency emerges, is subordinate to the Mandate index. That is, the Mandate Index takes primacy as a generalizing frame of the artifact as a whole. This becomes evident as the Mandate Index unfolds within the narrative of the text. The cyclical terms of order, the fall, guilt, victimage, and redemption, are unpacked from the Mandate Index.

The terms of Order are those following Burke’s theory of human language, logology. Terms follow a cyclical pattern of guilt, victimage (mortification, scapegoating), and redemption, as the narrative of the text progresses in an analogous fall, as in a fall from grace. Abortion is, of course, the devil of devil-terms within the text. It is the epitome of disorder; however, there is a presumption of guilt brought to bear on the Christian: “But his blood will I require at your hand” (p. 9). The “bloodguilt” teaching goes back to Randall Terry. Risen and Thomas (1998) quote the founder of Operation Rescue, Randall Terry: “The only way to wash away the ‘blood-guiltiness of the church,’ Terry said, was for the church and its people to do everything in their power to stop abortion” (p. 222). The teaching became a catchphrase that rallied

Christian Evangelicals to pro-life activism in the late 1980’s to mid-1990’s.

Sullenger poignantly stated, “The Scriptures are clear. If a man fails to warn the wicked, he commits sin and shares in the guilt. If a man does warn, he is obedient and therefore held guiltless” (p. 9). Redemption unfolds within the Mandate Index as the

Christian (recruit/pro-life activist/prophet) exposes the sin of abortion and, in every sense, places the blame on all those associated with abortion, including other Christians opposed to Operation Rescue’s activism:

Ephesians 5:11 stated “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of

darkness, but rather expose them.” The large graphic photos expose the heinous

truth about abortion in an unsurpassed way. Unlike other modern social

movements, the media has been unwilling to take images of injustice against the

pre-born to the public. A handful of Christians have struggled one city, one

neighborhood, one person at a time to expose the grim truth about the plight of

the pre-born. The large graphic photos are crucial tools, which have successfully

allowed Christians to fulfill the Biblical mandate to expose evil. (p. 3, 4)

The disorder emerges as Christians have a “fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness,” implying that opposition to Operation Rescue’s use of graphic signs is equated to “fellowship with…darkness.” There is no neutral ground. The proclamation is explicit; “The duty of Christians is to expose and to warn” (p. 9). A remedy

(victimage) is achieved by exposing the “grim truth.” It is a struggle. The act of exposing by displaying the graphic signs has implications of sacrificial obedience, as

Sullenger stated plainly:

Christians who seek the approval and accolades of the world or wish to avoid its

persecution are in danger of conforming to and compromising with a system God

has called them out of. According to 2 Timothy 3:12, ‘Yes, and all who live

godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution’…. those who expose evil, will be

unpopular with the majority of people. (p. 9) [emphasis in original]

The mandate incorporates both scapegoating and mortification. The act of exposing the graphic signs is done with the intent to accuse, as is the structure of a prophetic judgment speech (Westermann, 1991). ‘Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul’ (p. 9). The prophet who fulfills the mandate will “save lives, convict the guilty, change hearts, cause the hurting to seek help” (p. 13).

The act of exposing sin is not only an act of scapegoating but also an act of mortification: “Christians displaying the graphic photos of aborted children perform the unpopular but necessary function of confronting a public in denial about abortion who so desperately need to seek forgiveness at the cross” (p. 11). Victimage results in the restoration of the perfect term of order that Burke referred to as the Title of titles.

Christians are restored in carrying out God’s mandate, delivering a “prophetic message that exposes evil.” It is a progressive act that unfolds linguistically, gradually, and unmistakably as the restorative act to the ultimate motive of the text. The artifact text unfolds as an act of victimage as Operation Rescue complies with their mandate to expose the sin of Christians failing to warn the wicked. The text serves as a prophetic warning to Christians, who are mandated by God to carry out the works of a prophet.

Prophetic agency encompasses the entire cycle of terms, the perfect, and the way back to it. Christians, fallen in iniquity from opposition to the act or complacency regarding the act, can find redemption through victimage, participating in Operation

Rescue’s method of pro-life activism, fulfilling the mandate from God that calls all

Christians to be prophetic agents exposing the sin of abortion. Failure to do so, however, results in judgment.

It is apparent the Mandate Index implies a prophetic agency of the organization, and the activism of the agency is the victimage necessary for redemption back to the highest order of terms. The narrative of the text functions in a redemptive manner, redeeming the text from disorder to order. The rhetor provides a warning of impending judgment upon those who do not fulfill God’s mandate. The message is a proclamation.

The mandate becomes the work of a literal prophet, an actual agent of God proclaiming a divine mandate that, consequently, all Christians are called to obey. The ultimate term of order is obedience in accomplishing a prophetic act of warning, mandated by God, the ultimate motive, the fulfillment of Operation Rescue’s prophetic agency.

What begins as a literary device, employing the trope of the prophetic voice, transitions into a literal demand. Figure 2 provides a graphic conceptualization of this analysis. Referring to Figure 2, we see the rhetorical operations in the unshaded portion of the diagram. Here, the voices are operational in a standard metaphoric frame: the prophetic voice, rhetorically constructed and applied. However, a transition occurs as the rhetor constructs a frame that calls the audience to see God’s mandate delivered to

God’s people by God’s prophet.

Figure 2 – Venn Diagram. Logological Conception of the Cluster Analysis.

The ultimate unfolding of the artifact is the proclamation mandating a call to prophetic agency. The rhetorical defense of the use of the graphic images is secondary to the mandate from God. The presumption would follow that such an act supersedes the necessity of rhetorical empowerment and bypasses any community constraints upon rhetorical agency. The artifact works in the same manner as the graphic signs, as a prophetic message. The act is one of a prophet of God proclaiming a mandate upon the community. The mandate is to expose. It is a call to obedience, a literal call to prophetic agency.

Limitations

The theoretical framework of this study is based on Kenneth Burke’s logology.

The theory restricts its boundaries to empirical inquiry and not ontological dispositions

(Burke, 1970). Although this analysis extrapolates the purpose of the artifact by analyzing how the rhetor’s language functions within the text, this study does not provide insight into the implication of prophetic agency when a literal presumption is made by the rhetor and is assumed by the audience.

Conclusion

Prophetic agency emerges in Operation Rescue’s rhetoric as both a rhetorical utility and a divine proclamation that is indifferent to community constraints. The rhetor’s rhetorical defense of the use of graphic images becomes incidental as the rhetor’s prophetic voice transcends rhetorical agency to become the voice of a literal

89 prophetic agent; one who is speaking on behalf of God. The artifact telos shifts from a rhetorical argument supporting a specified persuasive strategy to a proclamation of divine judgment.

The act of setting up the large graphics in front of unsuspecting Evangelical churches was done as an action apart from Operation Rescue’s protest demonstrations at abortion clinics, college campuses, and street corners. This was a direct and confrontational message to their evangelical Christian audience. The large graphic display of aborted babies was not displayed to target “the age group of women most likely to seek an abortion” (p. 5) or to confront those who “encouraged abortions” (p.

11). These images were presented to members of their own community of identification.

The message of mandate unfolds in the act taking place outside the unsuspecting church.

The textual cyclical order of terms unfolds within the artifact as the mandate provides a prophetic warning of judgment and a means of redemption for the unsuspecting audience. The Christian becomes Operation Rescue’s target of guilt and shame.

Appendix A: Email Interview

Greeting Ms. Sullenger,

My name is Al Marin. I am a Communication major and graduate student from California State University Sacramento. My concentration is on Political and Religious Communication.

I am currently working on my thesis, a study on Rhetorical Agency as it relates to in- group dissension. The artifact of study is a paper you authored entitled, The Use of Graphic Photos of Aborted Children In the Public Forum: A Rational and Biblical Defense. I am interested in the reason, motive, and purpose for this document. In order to establish a solid context, I would greatly appreciate your assistance in answering a few questions. They are:

Q. Does the dissension within the Christian community, which prompted this publication in 2000/2002, continue to the same extent today as it did when this paper was published in 2000 /2002? A. Yes, I believe that it does in may circles, but there are several large pro-life groups that support the use of the images, so even though many don't like them or approve of them, they may be starting to tolerate their use to some degree.

Q. If so, is there a specific reference I may use to support such a dissension, both during the time of publishing your paper, and presently (if applicable)? A. Organizations such as March for Life, Sidewalk Advocates for Life, and to some extent, 40 Days for Life do not sanction the use of abortion victim photos at their events.

Q. My understanding from research is that there was significant opposition within the evangelical community towards the earlier tactics of your organization, such as the criticism delivered by Dr. Charles Stanley in the late 1980’s. Did that contention within the Christian community continue towards the use of graphic photos as it did against the previous tactics of protest and civil disobedience (the blocking of access to abortion facilities)? A. I do not believe that one had anything to do with the other. As with anything, there will always be detractors -- well-meaning and otherwise -- no matter what you do. There are those that have never heard of clinic blockades that oppose the use of aborted baby photos. As a side note, we have changed our tactics with the times and no longer block access to abortion facilities because we have found more effective means of closing abortion facilities that involve working legally within the system. However, we still support the use abortion victim photography.

Q. If this document did not exist, would there be a reason to draft such a defense at present? In other words, do the same conditions that prompted the creation of this

91 publication, exist today? A. Yes, there would be reasons to write such a piece today since there is still resistance to sharing these images publicly. But I would add, as I said before, there is some softening in some circles that now tolerate them even though they don't necessarily approve of them.

Q. How would you assess the success of the document? A. I received quite a bit of positive feedback on it, and it did persuade some people. But it was written so long ago, it is pretty much outdated now. At the time it was written, I had fewer opportunities to share it with mass numbers of people, so I would say the impact, though positive, was not as much as if it had been released in the past 2- 3 years.

Q. What were the primary means of distribution of the document at that time? A. We posted it online and handed it out at pro-life events. Not it is primarily available on our website at http://www.operationrescue.org/files/useofgraphicsigns.PDF

Q. Were the recipient's clergy and other church leaders? If so, which churches were chosen, and why? A. I did send it to a number of clergy in the San Diego area, where I lived at the time. Then, we were doing church outreaches and would display the signs outside selected churches (something I hope I never have to do again). We chose the churches based on their proximity to abortion facilities and used the images as a means of helping Christians understand what was going on so near their houses of worship. We hoped we could recruit activists from these churches. It was mostly, but not entirely, a fool's errand.

Appendix B: The Artifact

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111

Appendix C: Pro-life Demonstrators

Pro-life Demonstrators Targeting the Christian Community. (Dallas Morning News, 2014). Protesters from abolish human abortion [Photograph].

Retrieved from https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/09/08/abortion-protesters- wield-photos-fetuses-actually-pro-life

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Appendix D: Abortion Cluster

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Appendix E: Graphic Image Cluster

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Appendix F: Exposure Cluster

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Appendix G: Mandate Cluster

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Appendix H: Abortion Index

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Appendix I: Prophetic Message Index

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Appendix J: Mandate Index

146

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148

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