Affect in Effect: Employing Pathos to Enhance Persuasion in Sermon Openings

ADAM, Martin. Affect in Effect: Employing Pathos to Enhance Persuasion in Sermon Openings. In 14th ESSE Conference. 2018.

Basic information

• Original name: Affect in Effect: Employing Pathos to Enhance Persuasion in Sermon Openings
• Name in Czech: Afekt a efekt: zapojení pathosu pro posílení persvaze v úvodních pasážích kázání
• Authors: ADAM, Martin (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: 14th ESSE Conference, 2018.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60203 Linguistics
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14410/18:00101124
• Organization unit: Faculty of Education
• Keywords (in Czech): persvaze; pathos; kázání; emoce
• Keywords in English: persuasion; pathos; sermon; emotion

Abstract

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.

Abstract (in Czech)

Ve srovnání s jinými druhy specializovaného diskurzu je religiózní diskurz považován za poněkud jedinečný v tom smyslu, že funkčně uplatňuje všechny tři složky aristotelovského apelu, tj. kromě logosu a ethosu také pathos. Pathos je obecně zprostředkován prostřednictvím vlivu a emocí; v náboženském diskurzu je mimo jiné účinně posílen záměrným souběhem faktu (vážný teologický obsah, intertextuální odkazy na důvěryhodné zdroje) na jedné straně a afektivní (pozitivní i negativní emoce) na straně druhé. Článek založený na korpusu zkoumá projev pathosu použitého v kázáních se zaměřením na to, co podpořit jejich přesvědčovací sílu.

Links

• GA17-16195S, research and development project: Name: Persvaze v anglickém a českém specializovaném diskurzu

Investor: Czech Science Foundation