Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1998 A Rhetoric of Religious Order: The aC se of the Promise Keepers. Michael Ellsworth Eidenmuller Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Eidenmuller, Michael Ellsworth, "A Rhetoric of Religious Order: The asC e of the Promise Keepers." (1998). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6668. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6668 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A RHETORIC OF RELIGIOUS ORDER: THE CASE OF THE PROMISE KEEPERS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Speech Communication by Michael E. Eidenmuller B.A., California State University at Long Beach, 1989 M.A., The Florida State University, 1994 May, 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9836868 Copyright 1998 by Eidenmuller, Michael Ellsworth All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9836868 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. AH rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright 19 98 Michael E. Eidenmuller All rights reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to those whose support made this dissertation possible: to Professor Harold Mixon, a most kind and thoughtful man; to Professor Andrew King, a charming and erudite man, whose timely wit places all things in their appropriate, rhetorical perspective; to Professor Edward Henderson, a model of professional integrity, whose ever-willing ear and insightful mind are surpassed only by a genuine Christian humility; to Professor Kenneth Zagacki, an intellectual mentor and friend whose thought-provoking classes and private conversations brought me to a light previously unseen. I wish to further acknowledge my mother and father who gave me the gift of life and the motivation to pursue it with a spirit of sincerity and a drive for excellence. I will also thank my grandmother, whose compassion and integrity well-represents the good in us all. Finally, I wish to acknowledge, in the most, my Creator, through whom all wisdom flows, and in whom my life is made complete. May you find me acceptable in your sight. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements........................................... iii Abstract...................................................... v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION................................... 1 Orientation to the Object of Study................... 1 Justification for the Investigation.................. 6 Statement of the Problem...............................8 Framework for the Investigation......................13 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE......................... 19 Introduction........................................... 19 Rhetoric and Evangelicalism......................... 20 Rhetoric and Popular Religious Movements........... 2 6 Rhetoric and Organizations.......................... 32 Rhetoric and Social Order............................3 7 Summary and Implications of Literature Review 4 6 CHAPTER THREE: CRITICAL METHODOLOGY 4 9 Introduction........................................... 4 9 Identification as Rhetorical Strategy............... 49 The Scriptural Implant................................57 CHAPTER FOUR: THE EXIGENCE OF IDENTITY................... 63 Introduction........................................... 63 Constructing Personal Identity.......................64 Managing Multiple Identities......................... 75 Summary 8 8 CHAPTER FIVE: THE EXIGENCE OF RECRUITMENT................ 90 Introduction........................................... 90 The Evangelical Network...............................91 The Persona of Bill McCartney........................ 94 Re (appropriating) the Public Spectacle............. 109 Discipleship and the Small Group....................120 Summary................................................135 CHAPTER SIX: THE EXIGENCE OF OPPOSITION................. 138 Introduction.......................................... 138 Internal Opposition.................................. 140 External Opposition.................................. 177 Summary............................................... 194 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION................................. 197 Introduction.......................................... 197 Research Questions and Findings.....................198 Future Research.......................................206 Postscript............................................ 208 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. REFERENCES..................................................211 VITA........................................................ 221 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This study employs a Burkeian critical perspective to explain the growth and impact of the evangelical movement- organization known as Promise Keepers. Specific attention is given to the strategies of identification by which Promise Keepers manages the exigencies of identity. recruitment. and opposition. In addition, this study introduces the concept of the scriptural implant, a strategy of identification by which Promise Keepers attempts to secure the truth and authority of its discourse. Data for this study were selected from a range of sources, including published literature, audio and video tapes, and Internet materials produced by Promise Keepers. Interviews with Promise Keepers' leaders, who occupy national and regional positions of authority, provide additional insight into the rhetorical nature and function of this evangelical movement-organization. This study found that Promise Keepers managed the first exigence by constructing an alternative religious identity which grants followers the power and authority do things other identities, including religious ones, can't or won't do. To manage the second exigence, Promise Keepers' relied on the prior public persona of Bill McCartney, as well the production of a professionalized system of recruiters and recruitment situations in order vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to attract and maintain the allegiance of followers. Finally, Promise Keepers managed the exigence of opposition through various metaphoric and scriptural implant strategies of identification, designed to locate the order's place and function within the body of Christ. As a case study in the rhetoric of a religious order, Promise Keepers offers important insight into the discursive practices of contemporary evangelicals, as well as contemporary evangelical movement-organizations in a fragmented, postmodern society. vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Orientation to the Object