This timely collection analyzes how religious rhetorics function in public activism and political discourse. Chapters range across time from early nineteenth-century America to the Trump era. A variety of religious orientations are considered, from evangelical Christianity to Catholicism to Islam. Rhetoric’s contemporary multimodality is represented in treatments of politically motivated music, protest demonstrations, Facebook posts, and tweets. Concluding chapters trace the implications for rhetorical scholarship of religious rhetorics’ increasing ubiquity in public life. New Directions in Rhetoric andReligion will soon find a generative place in graduate seminars and on scholars’ shelves—including mine.

Patricia Bizzell, College of the Holy Cross

This volume adds immensely to the burgeoning literature on communication and religion, with a specific focus on the rhetorical tradition. Thoughtful treatments of the intersection of rhetoric and religion in contexts of social activism, race, ecological concerns, and politics, among others, from a variety of contributors and perspectives, make this book a vital resource for scholars and students of religious communication.

Janie M. H. Fritz, Duquesne University

New Directions in Rhetoric and Religion: Exploring Emerging Intersections of Religion, Public Discourse, and Rhetorical Scholarship belongs on the bookshelves and eReaders of scholars and readers seeking insight on the role played by rhetoric in religion, and public discourse. The bookend chapters, with James Vining’s introduction and Christian Lundeberg’s conclusion, tether the chapters in-between to theoretical touchstones that help illuminate case studies that range from Trump and the evangelicals to Islamist rhetoric in Egypt.

David A. Frank, University of Oregon

The essays in this book push the bounds of rhetorical scholarship by examining the complex and often overlooked relationships between religion and public engagement. Challenging long-held scholarly assumptions and practices, the chapters offer more nuanced, sophisticated, and ethical rhetorical methods and frameworks that can enrich and complicate our understandings of how religion functions in the public sphere, especially in the realms of advocacy, protest, and politics. A wide range of scholars stands to benefit from this truly forward-looking volume.

Martin Camper, Loyola University Maryland

In New Directions in Rhetoric and Religion, Professor Vining has assembled an excellent collection of scholars and scholarship, representing some of the strongest currents in the field today. The twelve chapters in this volume are at once wide-ranging and distinct and unified and cohesive. Some are authored by seasoned researchers, others mark the debut of promising careers. All are certain to stir ideas and start discussions wherever they are read.

Eric C. Miller, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

James Vining has brought together a diverse and talented group of rhetorical and communication scholars to consider the meaning of religion and rhetoric in the twenty-first century. Drawing on a range of historical and contemporary case studies, this book speaks to the challenges of the political moment while offering a glimpse into the bright future of rhetorical and religious scholarship. This is a resource for non-theists and theists, teachers and students, spiritual leaders and activists, and everyone interested in the intersections of religious investigation and public engagement.

Jonathan J. Edwards, Author of Superchurch: The Rhetoric and Politics of American Fundamentalism