Spring 2013 Course

LBS 700 Prophecy & Protest: The Prophetic Voice in American Public Discourse

This course will seek answers to the questions: What is prophecy as a communicative act? How do audiences recognize prophetic speech? How has prophetic speech influenced American public discourse? We will first look at the forms of prophetic speech in the Hebrew Bible, then trace these same forms as they are appropriated in the American tradition of public speech. Examples will include formative American prophetic traditions such as those of Quakers, Puritans, and Native Americans; and use of prophetic forms in American dissent rhetoric from the transcendentalists to modern apocalyptic movements. Readings will include many primary texts from the Bible and American public discourse as well as important critical discussions of prophetism as a social and rhetorical phenomenon. There will be liberal opportunity for students to pursue their own line of research within these parameters.

TUESDAY, 6:15 – 8:45 p.m.        Carswell 305
January 22 – April 30
(no class on March 12– spring break)
Margaret Zulick, Ph.D.
zulick@wfu.edu

Margaret Zulick is a professor in the Communication Department at Wake Forest.  She teaches courses in Historical Critical Research in Communication, Rhetorical Criticism, American Rhetorical Movements to 1900 & Since 1900, Classical Rhetoric, Argumentation Theory, Graduate Seminar on Kenneth Burke & Mikhail Bakhtin. Her research interests include rhetoric of the Hebrew Bible, history of rhetoric, rhetorical theory and criticism, American public discourse, and rhetoric of religion.