Today we began discussion with an important disclaimer about the MHS Blood Drive that is coming up. In order to participate you must be 17 years of age or older and at least 110 pounds. The Northeast region of the country always has a shortage on available blood so please help out and donate.
Next we began our discussion about John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charitie" which was a sermon delivered aboard the ship the Arbella. In order to augment our understanding of this sermon we evaluated the work as a persuasive argument. Our class deemed that the sermon did attempt to state arguments and back these claims up with facts, even if these facts were taken from a faith based source, the Bible. Which led us to ponder can a logical argument prove itself through faith based or religious facts.
A good persuasive text can use 3 tactics to back up the argument:
Logos- the logic of an argument
Pathos- the emotion of an argument
Ethos- the reputation of the arguer
"A Model of Christian Charitie" has logos because it states claims and backs up these claims with facts and passages from the Bible that support these claims. It also has Ethos because it speaks of the love in the community and tries to emotionally appeal to the audience. Finally while the sermon does not use Ethos in its text, it relies upon the reputation of John Winthrop externally as a respected member of the Puritan community.
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7 comments:
-Tyler H
I think that in the sermon, although it is not explicitly stated, John Winthrop has a reputation that the audience understands makes him a reliable source. Just that the people let Winthrop give the sermon, we can see that they give him at least a little trust. Because he is a male in a small society he also would have a greater role.
-Kelsey W
I agree with Kelsey. Although John Winthrop doesn't directly mention things that would suggest his prominence in the community in the text, his external reputation still gives him credibility. Since the Puritan group that came over on the Arabella together was rather small, many of his listeners must have already known and trusted him to some extent. I also believe the way in which his sermon was structured further adds to his credibility as the speech giver. By allowing a question and answer format, John Winthrop showed that he was knowledgeable in what he was talking about. He didn't simply have a sermon that was written beforehand and completely edited to perfection. His impressive answers to his listeners questions helped add to his prestige and reputation.
--Alexis
I agree with Kelsey and Alexis and would like to add that we should not forget that he is of high status anyway, and seems to be respected by not only the Puritan community. He is well-bred and wealthy. Perhaps this gives his even more ethos since he is a well-to-do in regular society who has converted to Puritanism, which was really their ultimate goal, wasn't it? To have people of all classes be Puritan. He could be said to embody that, thus commanding more respect for him.
~Olivia
I agree with everyone. Total, absolute concurrence. That being said, I think it's also notable that although John Winthrop is a standard Puritan, he is a different flavor. It is most likely his personality that leads to his lack of "harshness" and focus on love and forgiveness. He seems like a kind puritan, not the stereotypical hellfire preacher, though he is not a polar opposite to these types (since he does invoke the penalty of sin and consequences of straying from the Puritan path) It shows there is a simple form of diversity within Puritans, however limited.
-Colin P.
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