The revival of classical rhetoric has come to be seen as a defining feature of the Renaissance, one manifest in a vast body of educational literature and cultural commentary. This discourse borrows and reshapes principles of Greek and Roman rhetoricians for contemporary social purposes. Much of the early scholarship on this cultural trend emphasizes the connection between the revived classical rhetoric and the self-conscious civic humanism apparent in school curricula and learned culture. The figure of the orator played an especially important role in this movement. Scholars have pointed out that the orator was presented by many educators and social critics as a noble vir civilis, one learned in literature, articulate in speech, and active in civil society. While Renaissance reformulations of classical oratory and emphases on the figure of the orator have been studied quite extensively as they appear in written works of the period, much less attention has been given to civic orations actually delivered. This study attempts to redress that gap in our understanding of early modern civic discourse, especially by investigating the triangulated relationship between humanist rhetorical education, Renaissance concepts of the power of eloquence, and civic speech as an institutionalized rhetorical practice. Parliament, often compared by Tudor writers to the Greek Areopagus and Roman Senate, provides an ideal locus of investigation, since the speeches delivered there were categorically civic in nature and regularly addressed the traditional subjects of classical deliberative oratory. Yet close analyses of speeches from Elizabeth I's 1566 session reveal that the common Renaissance images of the orator are unsuitable for characterizing the expressions of civic voice exhibited in actual public speaking, just as the classical codification of civic speech provides an insufficient hermeneutic tool for understanding the rhetorical purposes of orations delivered in Tudor institutions. Parliamentary orators did not see the revived classical rhetoric as the only, or even the primary, tool for composing orations in civic venues, but rather drew significantly upon institutional customs, procedural gestures, and alternative language arts, such as dialectic and sermonic prophesying, in order to establish finely nuanced stances within the rhetorical situation. / text

Thesis--Pennsylvania, 1969. / On cover: Horace, Ciceron, et la rhétorique du seizième siècle. Bibliography: p. xi-xix.

Based on the author's Thesis (Ph. D.--University of Keele), 1993. / Spine title: Seduction and repetition in Ovid's Ars amatoria II. Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-310) and indexes.

Thesis--Pennsylvania, 1969. / On cover: Horace, Ciceron, et la rhétorique du seizième siècle. Bibliography: p. xi-xix.

Originally presented as thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [178]-218).

This dissertation sets out to determine the social function of paraenesis ("moral exhortation") within Valentinian Christianity. In order to explicate this social function, this study places the discussion within the context of ancient rhetorical practices of ethical admonition; i.e., how did paraenetic discursive practices act as rhetorical devices for affecting social formation? In order to establish the function of paraenesis, it is necessary to engage both literary and social aspects of the paraenetic genre. The latter is most challenging, given the methodological difficulties inherent in moving from textual context to socio-historical reconstruction of the situation behind a text. To address this problem, a method is adapted from sociology (interactionism) and social psychology (positioning theory) in order to critically gauge the social idealization of the sources. Special attention is given to the paraenetic contours of the Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3) and the Interpretation of Knowledge (NHC XI,1). / This dissertation is structured into five chapters. The first chapter will frame the discussion within current developments in the study of Gnosticism, where there has been a growing appreciation for social and ethical aspects of the Nag Hammadi tractates. A delimitation of the source base for this study will also be offered. Chapter 2 will offer a comprehensive overview of scholarly discussions of paraenesis over the past century. A functional definition, with an attendant typology of paraenetic material will be offered in closing. Chapter 3 directly engages the literary aspects of paraenesis within Valentinianism, placing the discussion within the context of moral exhortation in the Greco-Roman world, and, more specifically, early Christianity. This chapter will establish the presence of paraenesis within the Valentinian sources. Chapter 4 will then address the social function of paraenesis in two examples of Valentinian paraenesis, highlighting the rhetorical and discursive voice of each text. The final chapter will summarize the findings of the dissertation and raise implications of this study for the field of early Christian studies.

Based on the author's Thesis (Ph. D.--University of Keele), 1993. / Spine title: Seduction and repetition in Ovid's Ars amatoria II. Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-310) and indexes. Also issued online.

Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-299) and index.

Originally presented as the author's D. Phil thesis, Corpus Christi College Oxford, 1995-1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [234]-245) and indexes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Uppsala University, 2001. / Abstract (1 leaf) and improved print-outs for five diagrams (on p. 280, 290, 301, 308, 309) inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 495-529) and index.