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What has Ethics to do with Rhetoric? Prolegomena to Any Future Just War Theory
Abstract
The following article argues that the United States bishops have adopted an
objective rhetoric, meaning a rhetoric that focuses attention on the “content” of
the argument instead of the person making the argument. Such a rhetoric is
bound to fail after the abuse scandal that has beset the American Catholic
Church. A subjective rhetoric assumes that the person making the argument
cannot be separated from the content of the argument. The documents of the
Second Vatican Council hint at the possibility of a subjective rhetoric that has,
paradoxically, been employed with success by radical Islamic groups. Contemporary
European theologians, especially Johannes Baptist Metz, have laid the
groundwork for a subjective rhetoric through what they call “practical fundamental
theology.” Such an approach offers a model of apologetics that is more
scriptural and more plausible than the approach currently taken by the United
States bishops when attempting to discuss issues of war and peace.
objective rhetoric, meaning a rhetoric that focuses attention on the “content” of
the argument instead of the person making the argument. Such a rhetoric is
bound to fail after the abuse scandal that has beset the American Catholic
Church. A subjective rhetoric assumes that the person making the argument
cannot be separated from the content of the argument. The documents of the
Second Vatican Council hint at the possibility of a subjective rhetoric that has,
paradoxically, been employed with success by radical Islamic groups. Contemporary
European theologians, especially Johannes Baptist Metz, have laid the
groundwork for a subjective rhetoric through what they call “practical fundamental
theology.” Such an approach offers a model of apologetics that is more
scriptural and more plausible than the approach currently taken by the United
States bishops when attempting to discuss issues of war and peace.