Rhetoric of natural law in the public discourse of Benedict XVI

Abstract

The paper examines the rhetorical imagination of the Catholic speaker in public discourse on the basis of the parliamentary discourses of Pope Benedict XVI. According to this researcher, Pope Benedict XVI’s rhetorical model in the speeches is an extended version of Michael J. Hostetler’s critical distance model supported by the translation idea of Jurgen Habermas. This conclusion is reached by analysis of the constituent elements of the arguments in three parliamentary speeches given by Pope Benedict XVI. James B. Freeman’s updated version of Stephen Toulmin’s argumentation model is used to discern the constituent element of the argument.

Keywords:

• Rhetoric
• Pope Benedict XVI
• critical distance
• natural law
• translation of religious content
• religion in the public square

Notes

1 More details can be found in Blanco Sarto (2011).

2 Michael J. Hostetler is a pastor and professor of the Department of Rhetoric, Communication, and theatre at St. John’s University in New York.

3 David Tracy is a priest and professor of theology known for his work in hermeneutics and theological method in a pluralistic context.

4 Michael J. Perry is author of thirteen books and eighty-five articles. His area of expertise is in Constitutional Law, especially Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Theory, and Law and Religion.

5 Ronald C. Arnett is professor Emeritus of Duquesne University and expert in communicative studies. He is currently serving his third editorship for the Journal of Communication and Religion.

6 James B. Freeman is Professor emeritus of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Hunter College of City University of New York. He is expert in Argumentation Theory and Logic.

7 Stephen Toulmin (1922–2009) is famous for his studies of prescriptive language and moral reasoning. For him moral language cannot be reduced to subjective or objective but is unique expression of duty and right.

8 More details about the subject can be found in the article ‘Concerning the Notion of Person in Theology’ (Ratzinger 1990).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jottin Jose

Jottin Jose is a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly (India). He has a PhD in Church Communications from the Pontifical University of Holy Cross, Rome, and is Editor of the Pastoral magazine Vachanadhara.