A RHETORICAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SERMONS iN THE GREAT PREACHERS OF TODAY SERIES WITH REGARD TO THEIR ARRANGEMENT by BOBBY SCOTT REYNOLDS, B.A. ATHESIS IN SPEECH Submîtted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech Unîversity in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved May, 1970 77C r3 /970 A/O. ^y^ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author îs deeply indebted to Dr. P. Mervîlle Larson for encourag- îng him to pursue his graduate studies in the field of Speech and for his guidance in the preparation of this thesis; to Dr. J. D. Thomas for hîs permission to use the Great Preachers of Today series as a basis for this study; and to Mrs. Wayne Stark for her faithfulness in preparing this manuscript. II TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY 1 Purpose, Justificat-ion, ond Aim of Study 1 Method and Materials of Study 2 Plan of Organization 2 CHAPTER II - HISTORY OF DISPOSITIO 4 , Definition 4 Relationship to Other Canons 5 Its Importance 7 Classical Concepts 10 Later Concepts 12 Number of Parts 14 Sequence of Arguments 17 Summary 19 CHAPTER III - THE INTRODUCTION 20 Place of Introduction in Rhetorical Theory 20 Anaiyses and Comparisons of Various Introducticns in "Great Preachers" Series 29 CHAPTER IV - THE BODY 38 Place of the Body (Narratio) in Rhetorical Theory 38 Analyses and Comparîsons of Sermon Bodies în "Great Preachers" Series 46 CHAPTER V - THE CONCLUSION 53 Place of the Conclusîon (Peroratîon) înRhetorîcal Theory ..... 53 • • • 111 Analyses and Comparisons of Sermon Conclusions în "Great Preachers" Series 59 CHAPTER VI - CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY 66 Value of Study 66 Lessons Learned 66 A Summary of Observations 67 Need for Further Study 68 APPENDIX 69 "What if Christ Were Not" 69 "What Distinguished Christ From Others" 73 "The King and His Throne" 83 "Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life" 90 "Jesus the Chrîst" 102 "Christ—the Center and Heart of Christianíty" 110 "By the Determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God" 115 "The First and Second Comings of Chrîst" 120 "The Commission and the Authorîty of Christ" 126 "Jesus' Autobiography" 131 "The Inescapable Christ" 135 "The Unfinished Work of Christ" 142 BiBLIOGRAPHY 150 IV CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY Purpose, Justîfîcation, and Aim of Study Between the years of 1960 and 1967, a series of twelve books was pub- iîshed by the Biblical Research Press. The serîes, entitied Great Preachers of To- day, contains sermons by some of the most eminent preachers în the Church of Christ. What îs there about the sermons of these men that has captivoted great audiences ali over the United States? Do these men come from simîiar backgrounds? Do they prepare the same type sermons? Are theîr sermons organized in the same way? What about the delîvery of the men? Do they have simiior styies? A myriad of questions mîght be asked, but în thîs work the writer has focused his attention on oniy one ospect. He has chosen as his task to moke a study—a rhetoricai and comparative analysis—of severai representative sermons in the Great Preachers of Today series with regard to their arrangement. Very littie investîgotion of thîs rhetorical area has been done, and none 'This wrîter has had the opportunity to hear these men preach, and even though hîs observations will deal primarily with theîr written sermons, occasionally he will make o comment with regard to the orai presentatîon of the sermons. •Trwm-'^ that the writer has discovered, dealing with this particular series of sermons. It is hoped that this study will be profîtable to students of rhetoric, those studying for the mînîstry in homiletics courses, and for all preachers in general. Method and Materîals of Study it was realized, at the outset, thot the sermons under consideration would need to be analyzed with regard to their main parts. l^: soon also became apparent that a historical survey would need to be made of v/hat has been belîeved and taught, from the very beginnîng of rhetorical thought, with regard to arrange- ment or dispositio. Representative sermons from each of the twelve authors in the Great Preachers of Today series wili be anaiyzed. At least one sermon from each preacher will be contaîned în the Appendîx. A thorough and careful seorch for materials dealing with arrangement has been carried out. The findîngs of thîs search will serve a double function: (1) to întroduce the reader to the historical concept of dispositio; and (2) to aîd the wrîter in hîs analysîs of the sermons under consîderation. Plan of Organizatîon Thîs chapter, as one can see, has as its purpose to întroduce this study to the reader. Chapter 2 will deal with the history of dîsposîtio. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 wîll contain the anaiyses of the sermons under consideration with regard to their introductions, maîn bodies, and conclusions, respectively. The lost chapter wili contaîn some generai conciusions derived from the stu(;ly, 'f. CHAPTER II HISTORY OF DiSPOSITiO Definition Traditionally, disposîtio has been treated as the second canon of rhetoric. Theophrastus îs reported as saying that an "unbrîdled horse ought to be trusted sooner than a badly arranged discourse." Believing that good organî- zatîon is essentiai în a speech, the classical rhetoricians designated it the second part of rhetoric. They called it dîsposîtio, and in the brood sense it dealt with the selection, orderly arrangement, and proportion of the parts of on address. ' Edward Corbett, în his Ciassicai Rhetoric for the Modern Student, states: The second part of rhetoric was disposito (Greek, taxis), which may be translatedas "dispositîon, " "orrangement, " "organîzati^i r^ This was the dîvisîon of rhetoric concerned with the effectîve ond orderly arrangement of the parts of a wrîtten or spoken discourse. Once the ideas or arguments are discovered there remaîns the problem of selecting, marshali^ig, and organi- sing them wîth a vîew to effecting the end of the dîscourse.' Lester Thonssen and A. Craig Baird, Speech Criticism (New York: Ronald Press Company, 1948), p. 392. 2 Edward P. J. Corbett, Classicai Rhetorîc for the Modern Student (New York: Oxford Unîversity Press, 1965), p. 25. Relationship to Other Canons John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was also a noted rhetorician in his day. In hîs Lectures on Rhetoric ond Oratory, Adams eloquently poînted out the relatîonship between învention and dîsposition by likening invention to the primary creation of the world by the Divine Maker. He then went on to soy: . To shape this chaos into form, to give the orîgînal mass of mingled elements an existence for use or beauty, the principie of order must be intro- duced; as the creotion of light immedîateiy succeeded that of ma ter; and the division of light from darkness was the first thing, which the Supreme Creator saw to be good. This principle of order in rhetoric is termed disposîtîon. Dîsposition, according to the definition of Cicero . is "the orderly orrangement of the things invented." . invention is the chîld of genius, and genius îs not to be imparted by tuition. But if genius be heaven's best gîft, "order is heaven's fîrst law;" and the power of giving effect and execu- tion to this law is placed within the reach of our own assîduîty. A little later in this lecture Adams pointed out that the two canons are mutually dependent upon each other: "Invention without order is chaos before the creatîon of light. Order without invention is a mere unintelligent operatîon of mechanical power." Thonssen and Baird said that "Disposition is almost inextricably inter- woven with the data of invention." In referring to the argument of which !s more "^John Quincy Adams, Lectures on Rhetoric ond Oratory (New York: Russell and Russell, 1962), |, 391-393. "^lbîd., p. 394. Thonssen and Baîrd, Speech Criticism, p. 392. împortance, they later wrote: Our discussion of disposition has suggested the age-old controversy of matter vs. form. We need not labor that question wîrirfurther remarks. It is enough simply to point out that the most impressWe tand truthful matter conceivable can loselustre ond attractiveness through'faulty organîzation, and conversely that perfect organization can never transTorm drivel into shining truth.6 It îs not the purpose of thîs study to partîcipate in the argument with regord to whîch is the more important—invention or arrangement. (Suffice ît to say that they are both indisputable.) it is wîthin its realm, however, to em- phasîze the great importance of arrangement. There are many competent witnesses ready ond willing to testify in this behalf. For instance, in the preface to Book Vii of his institutio Oratorîa, Quintilian wrote: . just as it is not sufficient for those who are erecting a building merely to collect stone and timber and other building materials, but skilíed masons are required to arrange and place them, so in speaking, however abun- dant the matter may be, ît will merely form a confused heap unless arrange- ment be employed to reduce it to order and to give it connexion and firmness of structure. Nor is it without good reason that arrangement is treated as the second of the five deportments of oratory, since without it the first is useless. For the fact that all the limbs must be put together; and if you were to înter- change some one portion of our bodies or of those of other animals with another, although the body would be în possession of all the same members as before, you would none the less have produced a monster. Again even a slight dislocation will deprive a I imb of îts previous use and vigour, and disorder in the ranks will impede the movements of an army.