Theodore Parker - Orator of Superior Ideas

Theodore Parker, a great orator of the mid-19th century, was a Unitarian clergyman who directed much of his oratory towards ecclesiastical and social reform. Parker challenged slavery and other social ills. As a volume in the Great American Orators series, the focus is on Parker's oratory and its effect on theology and the social structures of the mid-19th century. Biographical information pertains to those aspects of Parker's life that influenced and shaped his elocution and ideas. Parker's rhetoric and rhetorical techniques are examined. Three of Parker's important speeches are included, each with an introduction that places it in its proper context.

This study will appeal to students of rhetoric, theology, and mid-nineteenth-century American religious history. The book is divided into two sections. The first concentrates on Parker's life, his role as an abolitionist, social reformer, and public order. Part Two scrutinizes three of Parker's most famous discourses. The author establishes Parker's place among mid-19th-century preachers.

List of contents

Series Foreword by Bernard K. Duffy and Halford R. Ryan
Foreword by Mark A. Noil
Introduction
Development of an Orator
Prologue: A Mid-Nineteenth-Century Preacher
The Early Years (1810-1959)
The Years of Influence (1841-1859)
The Waning Months (1859-1860)
Sermons and Speeches of Theodore Parker
"A Sermon of Slavery" (1841)
"The Mexican War" (1849)
"The Revival of Religion Which We Need" (1858)
Chronology of Selected Speeches
Bibliography
Index

About the author

DAVID B. CHESEBROUGH is a member of the graduate faculty in the department of history at Illinois State University. He has published God Ordained this War (1991), No Sorrow Like Our Sorrow (1994), Clergy Dissent in the Old South (1996), and most recently Frederick Douglass: Oratory from Slavery (Greenwood, 1998).

Product details

• Authors: David Chesebrough, David B. Chesebrough
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.07.1999
• EAN: 9780313308734
• ISBN: 978-0-313-30873-4
• Series: Great American Orators
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / General, Biography: general, English, American History, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, RELIGION / Christianity / General, RELIGION / Christianity / Denominations, Social groups, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, United States of America, USA, Biography: philosophy and social sciences, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Other Nonconformist & Evangelical Churches, Other Nonconformist and Evangelical Churches, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc, Social groups, communities and identities