Abstract

This study expands the theory of Image Restoration Discourse and contributes to an emerging theory of Christian rhetoric by investigating the nature and scope of Christian apologia. Drawn from a Protestant lineage, six cases of religious image repair are considered. Three cases are historical and three are contemporary. The three historical apologists are the Apostle Paul, Justin Martyr, and Martin Luther. The three contemporary apologists are Jimmy Swaggart, traditionalist Christian advocates responding the Jesus Seminar, and Southern Baptist apologists. The study finds that the signature strategies of Christian apologia are transcendence and mortification. Persuasive attack and defense in religious rhetoric is found to be largely epistemological, with much of the conflict centered on how opponents come to know, rather than how individuals and organizations behave. Furthermore, Christian apologia seems to be tremendously influenced by antecedent constraints and God as a salient audience. Finally, it is argued that Christian rhetoric is transcendent of the world, which provokes paradox and mortifying to the flesh, which promotes pardon