While the United States was founded upon the premise of religious freedom, religious rhetoric has pervaded presidential addresses since the Founding. While such addresses were rare at the Founding because constitutional interpretation restricted presidents’ ability to campaign and communicate directly with the American people, the inaugural address is one speech that has existed since George Washington’s inauguration in 1789. During presidential inaugurations, presidents introduce themselves as presidents and establish their policy directions for their presidencies. In this context, according to the role of the rhetorical presidency, early presidents used religious rhetoric in order to unite the nation under a unitary God, connecting the nation under common values and orienting the democracy as pre-destined by God for success. As distance increased from the American Revolution, presidents began to use religion in more personal ways, using religious rhetoric and even Scripture to support their policies, while continuing to use religion in unifying ways. By the beginning of the twentieth century, presidents began to appeal to the people more publicly, actively campaigning for their policies. In this context, religion began to be used as a tool of persuasion to advance presidents’ policies. This trend continued into the Cold War, when presidents invoked religion in order to establish America’s identity in a religious framework against an anti-religious, anti-democratic enemy, while simultaneously using specific religious allusions on the domestic front to further their policies in sometimes divisive ways. As the Cold War concluded, presidents continued to use religion to advance their own policies, appealing to certain audiences through religious rhetoric and making pleas for their policies through religious allegory.

This dissertation explores the manner in which theological elements from a biblical literalist perspective undergird and authorize the historical memory texts produced by Christian nationalist advocates in support of conservative Protestant religious establishment. Christian nationalist discourses exploit notions of divine warrant, public remembrance, and "historical evidence" as means to read the nation and contemporary far right ideological commitments as biblically founded, and hence, as binding upon the nation. Focusing on the rhetoric of David Barton, Christian nationalist par excellence and Republican Party operative, I argue that discourses of Christian nationhood mobilize the theologies of providence, inerrancy, inspiration, and literalism as rhetorical strategies to situate God's law as the definitive legal standard through which American law and cultural values are (de)authorized. Drawing upon the presumptions of biblical literalism to present the textual "proof' of a Christian nation, the politics of this memory work (and the many ways these discourses presume to furnish textual proofs of a biblical nation) aims to influence and to shape public memory, opinion, political behavior, and policy formation in favor of far right Protestant hegemonic interests.

The author argues that religion has provided the deaf community with a powerful language to convey their authority in struggles to preserve sign language. Employing religious rhetoric, the American deaf community historically overcame the oppression of a dominant hearing community that suppressed the use of sign language. Grounding his arguments for educating deaf Americans in his Protestant theology, the Reverend Thomas Gallaudet garnered support for the school by appealing to the Christian convictions of the citizens of Hartford - intertwining Protestantism with the emerging American deaf community. By exploring the school, sanctuary, and social activism of the American deaf community, the author provides evidence of deaf community rhetoric that includes religious themes and biblical references. For example, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, arguments for methods of how to teach deaf students divided on ideological grounds. Manualists who supported the use of sign language often grounded their arguments in Protestant theology, while oralists who were influenced by Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species grounded arguments in evolutionary thinking. The influence of biblical teachings was evident in the schools for the deaf. The chapel services perpetuated the use of sign language even in times when sign language was under attack. From these chapel services came a social purpose for the church sanctuary in the lives of deaf Americans in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America. The sanctuary also provided the deaf community with a political platform advocating sign language use. The social activism of the deaf community has taken on many forms. In the early twentieth century, the National Association of the Deaf president, George Veditz, used film to capture his fiery Preservation of the Sign Language, which is filled with religious rhetoric advocating the deaf community’s use of sign language. More recently, Deaf West Theatre’ production of Big River is an example of how artful expression is used to support the values of the deaf community. This dissertation concludes with the suggestion that technology has replaced many of the functions of religion in the lives of deaf Americans and the author encourages further research in specific areas.

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Le « discours sacré » (hieros logos) est une forme de rhétorique religieuse dans l’Antiquité gréco-romaine. Il apparaît dans de multiples sources, polythéistes, judaïques et chrétiennes depuis les origines jusqu’au VIe s. ap. J.-C. Cette notion et l’expression qui la désigne sont analysées sur la base d’un relevé complet des occurrences. L’étude examine la spécificité du discours sacré, son évolution et sa cohérence historique en tant que récit de révélation divine et d’expérience religieuse. La comparaison avec les autres formes de rhétorique religieuse indique la place spéciale qu’il occupait durant l’Antiquité. Le Tome I aborde la signification de l’expression grecque hieros logos еt son histoire, les aspects rhétoriques du discours sacré, sa signification cultuelle et théologique dans le polythéisme et dans les monothéismes ainsi que deux cas remarquables de distance critique et de réécriture dans l’œuvre de Plutarque et de Lucien de Samosate. Le Tome II contient un Corpus de témoignages, avec des traductions nouvelles, un Index du Corpus et un Répertoire des expressions parallèles à hieros logos en grec et en latin. / The “sacred discourse” (hieros logos) is a form of religious rhetoric in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. It occurs in various sources, polytheistic, Jewish, and Christian ; from the origin of Antiquity to the sixth century A.D. The concept and the expression it refers to are analyzed on the basis of a complete list of the passages where it appears. The study examines the specific features of the sacred discourse, its evolution and historic consistency as an account of a divine revelation and religious experience. The special place it occupies in Antiquity is shown through parallels with other forms of religious rhetoric. The first volume includes a study on the meaning of the expression hieros logos and its history, on the rhetorical aspects of the sacred discourse, on its religious and theological significance in the context of polytheism and monotheism, as well as two noteworthy cases of critic and rewriting in the oeuvre of Plutarch and Lucian of Samosata. The second volume contains a Collection of testimonia, with new translations, an Index to the Collection, and a list of the expressions parallel to hieros logos in Greek and Latin.

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<p>Uppsatsen behandlar hur USA: s president George W Bush använder civilreligiösa inslag i sin retorik under sitt första år som president. Han startade ämbetsperioden med att använda religiösa anspelningar i sitt installationstal., för att sedan fortsätta i samma anda hela året. </p><p>Bush är inte den första presidenten att använda sådana retoriska knep. Ända sedan USA: s grundande har presidenterna förstärkt sin talarkonst genom att hänvisa till Gud och att landet är utvalt av Gud - ett nytt Israel. Landets presidenter har alltid varit mer eller mindre övertygade om att Gud står på USA: s sida. Detta trots att det första tillägget i USA: s konstitution föreskriver en separation mellan religion ochstat. </p><p>Uppsatsen analyseras utifrån en innehållsanalys, som är en vanlig metod för att analysera politiska tal. Vår innehållsanalys består av åtta olika kategorier som speglar Bushs civilreligiösa retorik väl. Resultatet visar att Bush som president anser att det är självklart att en amerikansk president har en gudstro. Han använder ett religiöst språkbruk genom att citera ur Bibeln och Koranen i sina offentliga framträdanden. Han säger sig vara övertygad om att USA är utvalt av Gud att styra över världen. En stor del av Bushs civilreligiösa retorik går att hitta i att han försöker ena nationen genom att hänvisa till landets historia. Han visar ofta hur krigshjältar och presidenter har offrat sina liv för USA. </p><p>Vi anser att Bush använder civilreligiös retorik för att ena nationen vid svåra tillfällen. Efter terrorattacken den 11: e september 2001 ökar frekvensen av civilreligion hos Bush. Det är tydligt att den amerikanske presidenten vill ena en nation i chock. Vi menar också att det av tradition förväntas att USA:s president har ett civilreligiöst språkbruk. Vi menar att Bush använder civilreligionen som en ursäkt för att inte genomföra reella politiska förändringar i samhället.</p>

Uppsatsen behandlar hur USA: s president George W Bush använder civilreligiösa inslag i sin retorik under sitt första år som president. Han startade ämbetsperioden med att använda religiösa anspelningar i sitt installationstal., för att sedan fortsätta i samma anda hela året. Bush är inte den första presidenten att använda sådana retoriska knep. Ända sedan USA: s grundande har presidenterna förstärkt sin talarkonst genom att hänvisa till Gud och att landet är utvalt av Gud - ett nytt Israel. Landets presidenter har alltid varit mer eller mindre övertygade om att Gud står på USA: s sida. Detta trots att det första tillägget i USA: s konstitution föreskriver en separation mellan religion ochstat. Uppsatsen analyseras utifrån en innehållsanalys, som är en vanlig metod för att analysera politiska tal. Vår innehållsanalys består av åtta olika kategorier som speglar Bushs civilreligiösa retorik väl. Resultatet visar att Bush som president anser att det är självklart att en amerikansk president har en gudstro. Han använder ett religiöst språkbruk genom att citera ur Bibeln och Koranen i sina offentliga framträdanden. Han säger sig vara övertygad om att USA är utvalt av Gud att styra över världen. En stor del av Bushs civilreligiösa retorik går att hitta i att han försöker ena nationen genom att hänvisa till landets historia. Han visar ofta hur krigshjältar och presidenter har offrat sina liv för USA. Vi anser att Bush använder civilreligiös retorik för att ena nationen vid svåra tillfällen. Efter terrorattacken den 11: e september 2001 ökar frekvensen av civilreligion hos Bush. Det är tydligt att den amerikanske presidenten vill ena en nation i chock. Vi menar också att det av tradition förväntas att USA:s president har ett civilreligiöst språkbruk. Vi menar att Bush använder civilreligionen som en ursäkt för att inte genomföra reella politiska förändringar i samhället.

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To what extent does Margaret Atwood draw from American slavery to write The Handmaid's Tale? How does Offred's narrative compare with traditional slave narratives, and to what effect? This thesis explores intersectionality (or lack thereof) in The Handmaid's Tale and compares Offred's narrative to traditional slave narratives to find answers to why Atwood chose to draw from American slavery to write her novel in the first place. Offred's narrative is compared to three traditional slave narratives written/orated by three women, Harriet Jacobs, Hannah Crafts, and Mary Prince, to demonstrate how enslavement dehumanizes Offred in similar or different ways to these three women, and to reveal how the enslavement of and violence committed against the female slave body ultimately deforms even the most intimate human relationships in both Gilead and in historical American slavery. I discuss other tactics used to maintain control of the slaves both in Gilead and in historical American slavery, with particular emphasis on the development of justifications for enslavement in both societies. Violence against the body is not enough in Gilead, so Gilead implements religious rhetoric and controls knowledge to maintain its control of the Handmaids. Despite being used to control, religion also becomes a source of comfort and resistance for the women in each of these societies. In addition, narrativity and voice are acts of resistance when slaves/ex-slaves orate/write their narratives and publish them during their own time to combat slavery; however, unlike many traditional slave narratives, Atwood chooses to have Offred's narrative discovered after the Gileadean regime falls. This thesis explores Atwood's choice and her possible message to her readers about the importance of sharing their stories during their time.