Publication details
Affect in Effect: Employing Pathos to Enhance Persuasion in Sermon Openings
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | In comparison with other types of specialised persuasive discourse, the religious one is understood to be somewhat unique in the sense that it functionally employs all the three components of Aristotelian appeal, i.e. apart from logos and ethos also pathos (cf. Halmari & Virtanen 2005: 5, who maintain that the emotional appeal to the audience “is not expected to be foregrounded in the so-called professional genres”). Pathos is generally mediated via affect and emotions; in religious discourse it is, among other things, effectively reinforced by the intentional juxtaposition of the factual (serious theological content, intertextual references to credible sources) on the one hand, and the affective (both positive and negative emotions) on the other. It follows that a whole scale of emotions may undoubtedly be ignited in religious discourse in general, including sentiment, compassion, excitement, sadness, fear, guilt, and the like; these serve to encourage the believers to strive for a godly life, to realise and accept spiritual truths, etc. The corpus-based paper will examine the manifestation of pathos utilized in scripted sermons, focusing on how affect can foster their persuasive power. Scrutinizing both rhetorical conventions and language practices of sermons, the paper will demonstrate that owing to the employment of various shades of affect, the message conveyed is more personal, appealing and readily accessible to the audience. As a result, the desired persuasive impact – the quintessential goal of religious discourse – is thus enhanced. |
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