Dabney, Robert L.
Evangelical Eloquence: A Course of Lectures on Preaching (Dabney)
Description
In these days of the soundbite and the autocue, public speaking is a declining art-form, though it is not extinct and still has its own weight and force.
In New Testament times, unlike today, rhetoric was a highly regarded skill and works were written about it which are still read. Dabney quotes liberally from these, but does not always agree with them. He knew that gospel preaching was not to be ‘with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect’.
‘Evangelical eloquence’, for Dabney, was unique. It consisted in ‘the soul’s virtuous energy exerted through speech’ which applied ‘the authority of God to the conscience’ and formed ‘the image of Christ upon the souls of men’.
Table of Contents:
LECTURE I. | ||
INTRODUCTORY | 13 | |
LECTURE II. | ||
THE PREACHER’S COMMISSION | 30 | |
LECTURE III. | ||
DISTRIBUTION OF SUBJECTS | 49 | |
LECTURE IV. | ||
THE SAME TOPICS CONTINUED | 63 | |
LECTURE V. | ||
THE TEXT | 74 | |
LECTURE VI. | ||
THE TEXT (Continued) | 93 | |
LECTURE VII. | ||
CARDINAL REQUISITES OF THE SERMON | 105 | |
LECTURE VIII. | ||
CARDINAL REQUISITES OF THE SERMON (Continued) | 121 | |
LECTURE IX. | ||
CONSTITUENT MEMBERS OF THE SERMON | 137 | |
LECTURE X. | ||
CONSTITUENT MEMBERS OF THE SERMON (Continued). – EXPLICATION AND PROPOSITION | 154 | |
LECTURE XI. | ||
CONSTITUENT MEMBERS OF DISCOURSE (Continued). – ARGUMENT AND CONCLUSION | 168 | |
LECTURE XII. | ||
SOURCES OF ARGUMENT | 179 | |
LECTURE XIII. | ||
RULES OF ARGUMENT | 191 | |
LECTURE XIV. | ||
RULES OF ARGUMENT (Continued) | 205 | |
LECTURE XV. | ||
DIVISION OF THE ARGUMENT | 214 | |
LECTURE XVI. | ||
PERSUASION | 233 | |
LECTURE XVII. | ||
PERSUASION (Continued) | 247 | |
LECTURE XVIII. | ||
PREACHER’S CHARACTER WITH HEARERS | 261 | |
LECTURE XIX. | ||
STYLE | 271 | |
LECTURE XX. | ||
STYLE (Continued) | 288 | |
LECTURE XXI. | ||
ACTION | 303 | |
LECTURE XXII. | ||
ACTION (Continued) | 318 | |
LECTURE XXIII. | ||
MODES OF PREPARATION | 328 | |
LECTURE XXIV. | ||
PUBLIC PRAYER | 345 |
Author
Robert L. Dabney (March 5, 1820 – January 3, 1898) was an American Christian theologian, a Southern Presbyterian pastor, and Confederate Army chaplain.