The Use of Rhetorical Topics in the Text of the Gospel
The article considers the aspects of reciprocity of rhetoric and missiology. Many rhetoric aspects of the Holy Scriptures can be found in the Bible, but they experience certain transformation. The text of the Bible is particularly examined in order to find out different rhetorical constructions. This analysis is based on Aristotle’s works, devoted to topics and rhetoric. Such an approach to the Holy Scriptures from the point of view of the Orthodox Theology research is innovative and hasn’t been applied before. At the beginning of the research the aim was to draw out the argumentation system, which is used in order to explain the ideas of the Holy Scriptures; and, using different parts of the text, to prove that many rhetorical aspects which are used in the Bible, have been transformed. In the Gospels the rhetorical methods, which are usually used to make language more beautiful nearly don’t exist, but rhetorical topics remain and they help to realize the Gospel ideas. The article points out that in spite of the fact that the Gospel is translated into all worlds’ languages, the system of rhetorical topics of the Holy Scriptures texts remains unchangeable. It is thought that the exposed mechanism gives wide possibilities for the Orthodox missionary development as a science because it allows evolution of the system of missionary argumentation that can have efficient functioning in any cultural environment.
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