ABSTRACT
For a small but active body of scholars—those interested in religious rhetoric, the history of the sermon genre, and 18th-century society—Campbell’s sermons and theological writings offer a small gold mine. His Lectures on Pulpit Eloquence (1807), rarely mentioned in most of the studies of his rhetorical theories, is one of the few existing examinations of this genre from this period, and probably the only one by a theorist of his stature. 1 His Lectures on Ecclesiastical History also deserves a look, if for no other reason than to trace the insights and blindnesses of Campbell’s historical interpretations; after all, the story of the church, Catholic for more than two thirds of its history, was told by a Presbyterian scholar who was sternly anti-Catholic in his sentiments. Finally, there are several sermons and other essays, valuable for what they reveal about the genre in Scotland during the latter half of the 18th century, and for what they reveal about Campbell’s own rhetorical practices.
