The Rhetoric of Religion
Studies in Logology
Burke reads Augustine and Genesis to show how theological language builds itself out of metaphor.
Burke’s last major book examines the language of theology as language, what he called logology. He reads Augustine’s Confessions and the opening chapters of Genesis to show how terms for the supernatural are built from terms for the natural, and how the grammar of religious statement generates its own conclusions. The final work of the century’s most original student of rhetoric.
Recommended by 1 Person
Harold Bloom
His finest and last book, it is a study of Saint Augustine, but even more importantly a study of how the metaphors of the books of Genesis, and the Hebrew bible, individuate themselves. Kenneth Burke was the most remarkable student of rhetoric – that is to say of persuasive argument conducted through tropes and metaphors – of the 20th century. I miss him a great deal.
Interview · August 2011
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.