ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with theoretical reflection on the particular 'rhetoric of authority' in which the author argues that Protestant faith and theology are based. It considers the concept of authority from the perspective of author's thesis, suggesting that the Christian rhetoric of authority need be seen as neither 'ideological' nor authoritarian. Then, in critical response to the work of Rene Girard, the author offers a defence of the role of rhetorical violence in Christianity. The chapter then considers the distinctive nature of Christian rhetoric in relation to the classical tradition, and challenges the approaches of two recent studies of this area. Finally, it briefly considers the thought of Mikhail Bakhtin, an influential critic of 'authoritative discourse'. This chapter as a whole may be seen as an attempt to defend Christianity's basis in a rhetoric of authority against the suspicions of recent secular (and theological) thought.
