Item Details
The Black Preaching Response to Cultural Trauma
Author | McDonald, Nicole D. |
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Date | 2017 |
Format | Conference Paper |
Description | 11 pages |
Genre | Public Lecture |
Language | English |
Subject | Preaching |
Notes | Copyright © 2017 Nicole D. McDonald. Presented here with permission of Nicole D. McDonald and the Academy of Homiletics. |
Abstract | The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays delivered the final eulogy of his student and friend, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 9, 1968 at Morehouse College. This eulogy is a rhetorical speech designed to resolve the cultural trauma of King’s assassination by persuading the audience to continue King’s legacy of the nonviolent Civil Rights movement for all of humanity. Rhetorically, Mays’ eulogy adheres to Aristotle’s classical rhetorical thought on invention with regards to the ethos, logos, and pathos. Additionally, Mays’ eulogy addresses the communal grief of the African American community dealing with the collective loss. In as such, he models the Black preaching response to cultural trauma which consists of the following sermonic components: the identification of the pain, the identification of the victim, characterization of the relation of the trauma victim to the wider audience, attribution of responsibility, and redemption of the victim. |
Collection | Academy of Homiletics |
Contributor | Academy of Homiletics |
Rights | In CopyrightDigitized collections are made accessible for purposes of education and research. More... |