Rhetoric Review Oct 2015

The Interpretive Stasis of Assimilation: Evangelical Arguments against the “Magical” Use ofThe Prayer of Jabez

Martin Camper Loyola University Maryland

Abstract

In his bestselling book The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson claims that believers can reap guaranteed blessings from God by praying an obscure biblical prayer. But for many evangelicals, Wilkinson’s book teaches magic not prayer. At issue is the appropriate use of this biblical prayer. How might rhetoricians and other scholars of religion analyze this biblical debate? This article argues that the legal or interpretive stases, a neglected part of stasis theory, constitute an important rhetorical method for analyzing arguments over the meaning of texts, religious or not, thereby shedding light on the nature, motivations, and implications of such debates.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2015-10-02
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2015.1073559
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Topics
classical rhetoric rhetorical criticism argument
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