This dissertation examines the role of biblical rhetoric in shaping social policy in the United States with a focus on the debates and policies pertaining to educating adolescents about sex. By examining the use of biblical language throughout the history of the formation of sexual education programs in the US, within the current debates about sexual education in the public square, and as a tool for persuasion in the public market, I explore the process by which biblical language articulates and challenges values. The time period studied includes the formation of moral reform movements in the mid-nineteenth century, early efforts to address venereal disease leading up to and throughout WWI and WWII, the development of programs to improve marital satisfaction, the emergence of interest groups that attempt to influence legislation pertaining to the sexual education of adolescents, and the legal challenges to the public funding of programs that promote abstinence through the 1980s and early 90s. A more narrow focus is given to the public debates about abstinence education and the emergence of an ideology promoting abstinence in the early part of the 21 st century. What follows is an analysis of the discourses that invoke reference or illusion to the Bible within attempts to challenge or endorse a particular viewpoint in an effort to make the assumptions inherent within the strategy to publically invoke the Bible explicit. Data have been collected from archives, newspapers, television transcripts, published reports, educational materials, legislative hearings, and published material. This dissertation challenges efforts to promote or refute a particular interpretation of the Bible based on the desirability of their perceived social or political impact, arguing that such efforts enforce rather than dismantle the discursive power of biblical rhetoric.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:577631 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Krejci, Michelle Therese |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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