Reading: How to Argue Like Jesus

I was an English major in college and love reading books. Unfortunately, with all I read online and my professional work, I don’t have as much time to read as I would like. But when I find something really unique, I make time.

Right now, I’m making time for “How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator.” My initial interest in the book was purely based on the fact that I know one of the co-authors, Joe Carter. I first became familiar with him through Family Research Center, where he put their blog on the map. While I prefer to read Catholic religious blogs myself, his personal blog, The Evangelical Outpost, was voted Best Religious Blog in the 2005 Weblog Awards and one of the Best Spiritual Blogs by Belief.net. In other words, he knows his stuff.

I was also drawn to this book because I am a writer, one with a particular interest in the craft of rhetoric. My first blog, Elocutio, was named for a tenet of classic rhetoric and my favorite class in college was a rhetoric elective. (In that class, among other things, we studied grammar–who does that in college?–and focused the grammar rules that transcend languages. If you think that sounds interesting, you and I should talk. If you’re bored to tears by the thought of studying such things, please excuse my word-nerd moment.)

So far, the book is a great refresher of the techniques introduced in that class and has put them in a unique context. I’ve finished about half the book so far, and I like the fact that ideas are reinforced with examples of Jesus’ speech, obviously, but also different historical uses of the same styles from all eras. I’m also loving the very practical suggestions that accompany each technique about how to apply the lessons of Jesus–and other great rhetoricians–to different professional industries, like politics and business. I already know that I’ll be keeping this book handy on my bookshelf and referring to it for years to come.

In the next week or two, upon completion of the book, I’ll be posting a more thorough review of the title and an interview with Joe Carter. If you have a question that you’d like me to ask Joe, feel free to post a comment below or send it to me via Twitter.

Convinced already? If you’re ready to purchase “How to Argue Like Jesus,” please use the link below:

Popularity: 3% [?]

Related posts:

1. Interview with Joe Carter of “How to Argue Like Jesus”
2. Marketing Your Blog with an Elevator Pitch: What Is CatherineFavazza.com?

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pm and is filed under New and Old Media. The entry is tagged under books, jesus, joe carter, reading, rhetoric. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.