Rhetoric or Revolution?

Russell Goldman, ‘Rhetoric or Revolution? Obama Rev's Fiery Language’. March 21, 2008. ABC News.

Naar aanleiding van de klacht over de racistische taal van de predikant uit de kerk waar Obama geregeld aanwezig is, volgde een debat over de retoriek van dergelijke preken.

But for thousands of parishioners who fill the pews of America's black churches, the Illinois senator did not need to contextualize Wright's message of black nationalism and apocalyptic prophecy -- they hear it every Sunday.

De preek wordt geplaatst binnen een retoirsche traditie:

But beyond black liberation theology, scholars and his fellow ministers put Wright in an even older tradition, in which black ministers, like the biblical prophets, used their pulpits to chide the nation into moral action.

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It is all about context, say Wright's supporters, including Obama. Parishioners raised in the church understand that preaching is loud, physical and theatrical.

"There is a performative style that accompanies black preaching," Erskine said. "You have to act it -- take the way he was fanning himself. How you say things is more important than what you say. There is a power in words and the way they are expressed."

If whites are surprised by the rhetoric, it is only because they are not familiar with the culture of the black church, Obama said in his speech Tuesday in Philadelphia.